Step Gently

The older I get, the more I feel drawn to step gently in this life.

The picture is of a board outside the newly restored Aqueduct cottage on the Cromford Canal. When we visited, Tim and I paused and read about all the nature that has been observed there. We chuckled at the bottom note, ‘But not all today!’

Work has been pressurised and one day this week I was too wound up to eat lunch. We opened the double doors from the kitchen to our back porch, Tim sat eating, and I took a banana outside and stood there in the sunshine looking at our plant pots. We nattered gently, while I removed the decorative slate piece edge from a pot containing my Granny’s favourite Lily of the Valley. Shoots were trying to come through under the slate and I hadn’t spotted it till then. A few days later, all is well and the pot is full of spires, turning green and buds are forming. This plant came from my Mum’s garden and has followed us through several house moves and splitting, where it has been shared with other souls. In May, she will show her full glory.

During that lunchtime, Tim suggested we go out for a meal at one of our favourite places this evening to mark the end of the working week, and his kind thought has kept us going.

Mis-communications have been rife and it’s only in the pause and taking time to listen that things have not erupted. I took a private request to create a ceremony and attend an interment of ashes for a beloved Mum. Her daughter is organising it and has had to wait months while the deeds to the family plot have been located. When she called me she was distressed. Towards the end of the call, I discovered how she had found me and I fired off a quick email to the funeral directors to say ‘Thank you’. I didn’t include a full description, used the wrong words, and caused upset at the other end as they didn’t know who I was talking about. The funeral directors called and gently we talked till all became clear.

Tim was putting the bins out the other evening when a neighbour’s young daughter came over to show him her first library book. She was so excited that she could borrow books for a whole month and her Mum had put a little table and chair outside so she could read in the sunshine. When she’d finished chatting to Tim, she went over to another neighbour who was cleaning his car and showed him too. She is one of the children who rides her bike after school in front of our homes and it is a joy to see. We loved how excited she was about reading and the confidence she had in coming up to share her discovery.

My niece shared some photos and in one her youngest daughter, who is two, had fallen asleep reading her book, with the book held in her little hands. That moment in time is now a heart memory.

I was talking to a funeral director, and he spoke kindly about another funeral company. As I listened to his words and tone it was comforting. He and I both agreed that kindness is the energy we wish to flow with and we do not see other funeral directors, their teams, the clergy and celebrants as competition. We are all here to support and help loved ones in what can be one of the worst times, and as loving energy flows, people are drawn together to form a whole for as long as needed.

I often write poems to share as a ceremony draws to a close. They are personal and about the moments when we feel our loved ones who have passed away are still with us. The loving energy that has been created in their lives is still here and is evoked each time there is a moment of memory. Those we loved who have passed away live on in our hearts.

That same loving energy is here as we go about our daily rounds and interact with each other, no matter what we do. We are all walking each other home, and if we can do it gently and with love towards others and ourselves, it nurtures the loving energy that is ever-present in our lives.

In our home, the ‘to-do’ list for this weekend has been edited and shortened.

Here is an excerpt from my Thoughtful Tuesday this week, entitled ‘Getting Hijacked’, and with synchronicity, it is about anger. I didn’t plan this, I promise!.

Here’s the link to the full version for my paid subscribers.

Thoughtful Tuesday - Getting Hijacked.

My love to you all, till next week. 🩷