Finding The Joy In The Gap

“Finding The Joy In The Gap”

     So much has happened since my last letter in February. I don’t usually write so often but there’s so much I want to share with you.

     A wondrous trip to Hawaii was the biggest event . . . a week of swimming and playing with dolphins, manta rays, Humuhumunukunukuapuaha (the state fish there), and gazing in amazement at giant tails flipping into the air right in front of us.    
     Our leaders, Shawn Gallaway and Jan Salerno, guided us in being with each other (13 of us), and with these beautiful creatures, so they could relax with us and even play “the leaf game” with the dolphins. 

   When we weren’t in the water or on the boat, Shawn would sing with us and lead us in yoga-type exercises or group circles where we shared or painted our life dreams and challenges, with the deep support of the whole “Pod”, as he called us.
Sometimes we traveled to explore volcanoes, lava tubes, coral reefs, and play, swim, relax at different beaches. And always there was the joyful singing. Shawn, Simon, and Benjamin (owner of the beautiful place in the jungle where we stayed) were all musicians.     

    We sang to each other, the geckos, the dolphins, the other boats around, and this was why the trip was called “Dolphin Tune”. The critters and us all loved it!

     I’m waiting now for a beautiful underwater video of the trip to arrive in the mail . . . made for us by Jeff, the owner of Jack’s Diving Locker who supplied our gear and boat. Let me know if you’re interested in seeing it, and I’ll arrange a showing for those of us in Colorado.

     Then: The Trip Home!
     The all night flight from Kona to Denver was not bad. A kind lady at the reception desk found me a seat with two empty seats next to it and I was able to stretch out and sort of sleep. Then the fun began. We arrived in Denver to find our United flight to Colorado Springs was postponed by four hours. After these exhausting hours someone noticed there was no activity at the gate we were supposed to fly out of and we started asking questions. A flight attendant waiting with us called her supervisor to find out, sure enough, our flight had been cancelled and no one had told us! THIS WAS THE SECOND TIME IN 2 MONTHS FOR ME THAT UNITED HAD CANCELLED THE DENVER/COLORADO SPRINGS WITH NO WARNING SAYING: “It’s not our fault. Sorry, all the other flights are full. No, there’s no refund.
You’ll just have to find a shuttle.” WHAAAAA!!
     I did get home late that afternoon, finally, with the help of a young woman who worked for the government and her supervisor who arranged a shuttle to the CS airport, and also my faithful friend, Robert, waiting at the airport for hours, picked me up. I WILL NEVER FLY UNITED AGAIN!!
 

So I arrived home exhausted and has taken me a long time to adjust to this altitude, plus our dry Colorado air has made my skin and mouth feel like tissue paper! Aaah, friends to the rescue once again. Janet, our very experienced facialist at Heart of Manitou salon whipped together some special creams and worked on me for two hours! Oh, my skin and me thanked her profusely.

      And then, of all things, on a simple walk in Green Mountain Falls with some favorite neighbors, my foot suddenly caught on a stick under the snow and I went smashing to the ground, crushing my left shoulder for the third time in a year! Again, friends to the rescue. Angela Gainer, Acupuncturist, treated and nurtured me so beautifully, and I followed up with two sessions from Chiropractor friend, Jason.

      I’m slowly recovering. (I have to admit I don’t seem to recover as fast as when I was 30 or 40 years old.)
 
     So what do we do when life throws us these bumps in our road?? Well, one thing I did was to call my daughter, Shawna, just to calm myself hearing her voice. Well, her wisdom came through as usual. “Mom, you have pushed yourself through your whole life. You are getting a clear message to STOP IT! Start allowing “GAPS” in your day. Look for them. And when you find them . . . FIND THE JOY IN THE GAPS!
      Wow! Isn’t that beautiful? So I’m working on it . . . creating these simple spaces in the day where I STOP . . . maybe smile at a stranger . . . stretch against a post at Safeway. . . . read something . . . watch a movie . . . take a bath . . . turn off the news. 
       And I challenge you to join me. Most of us grew up receiving lots of praise for our “Human Doings”. I think this world, now, is trying to teach us to “BE”….slow down,
Be a Human BEING!
 
     This was certainly the message from those beautiful sea creatures I played with. I know it’s not easy, and is a complete ground floor retraining for many of us. But I’m realizing, finally at 75 years, that, somehow, everything works out . . . and . . .  gets done . . . and . . . we are ALWAYS TAKEN CARE OF!! . . . if we trust.

 
     So will you accept this challenge with me?….
                 “FIND THE JOY IN THE GAPS!”
 
Let me know how it goes….a warm hug to you all,
 
                                                 Kathleen

 


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