When you have a newborn every day has milestones. These include everything because everything is new and the first time. There is the first feeding, the first diaper change, the first car ride home, the first time in the new bassinet, the first smiles and on and on and on and then this weekend was the first walk outside with mom, dad and the grandparents. It was chilly but not too chilly. Baby Freyja was strapped to her mommy's chest with a sling carrier and protected by Sara's coat and then a warm blanket and off we went on another first, another milestone. Doug, rather, Chief and I are so lucky that we can say we were there. We participated in the newness and a few milestones.
.And there will be many more to come. There are so many you could never list them all. We can dream about them. The first time we babysit Freyja so Sara and Ian can go out to dinner; the first time we take her on a swing; oh, the first time we take her camping; the first time she sees a butterfly or a dragonfly; the first time she plays at the beach; the first day at school and all of this excitement is the precious gift for parents to witness life as it unfolds for our children. If you were a parent can you remember some of those precious moments? These milestones represent growth, the passage of time and change. This change and growth is understood with a common experience in our culture, graduations. Graduation is a word with different meanings as a child grows up. We watch them graduate from preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, high school, college and maybe medical school as we have watched Sara and coming up next her graduation from her medical residency here in Maine. Milestones that we as parents have witnessed as we marveled at her growing maturity, wisdom and ability. We are so proud of our daughter. And now Sara and Ian get to witness their special Freyja as she reveals who she is.
Growth and change and milestones. When you are in your 60's you have had many of your own. We create milestones for ourselves. These are growth markers as goals we set. Some are consciously made and some come to us out of the blue. Is an event that just happens a milestone or is it how we respond to it that milestones are created? My first major surgery last August 28. Was that a milestone? Probably not but within it there were definite milestones. There was coming home from the hospital, changing from the walker to the cane, my first walk out on my own, my first walk with my dog on a leash. It was like starting over again in some ways. Sometimes it seemed that it was taking all too long to reach those milestones. I needed patience and endurance. I guess this is how we all feel about these growth markers. There is a force within us that wants to grow. In the case of injury and illness the force wishes to heal and get better and in childhood the force helps us to grow up and to leave the nest of our parents.
The milestone of becoming a grandparent was not a goal I could set but it is an experience we all wish to have. We really don't have the ability to make it happen of course, we can only wish and hope. So not all of us reach milestones that we desire. Maybe it is not fair to call this experience of becoming a grandparent a milestone. We are here witnessing milestones for Freyja as she grows and that is due to a blessed gift given to us not a milestone we have met. Becoming a grandparent is simply a gift. Now on this side of the birth event I see and understand that more intimately. Not all of us receive the same gifts in this life. Many of us are grandparents at various ages but not all of us. Some of us have our children near by and some of us do not. I do get grouchy about this that I do not have, proximity. So, yes Chief as you said to me, we have to make it work. We have to reach out of our skin in ways that sometimes is uncomfortable as the gifts do not always come wrapped as we wish.
We have to look for our gifts. Many times they come in strange packages. So being alert and watchful is important to find our not so obvious gifts given by the unseen and unknowable. Some of us may never receive the gift we want or the way we want it but it comes in a different form. We may not be given a choice. Unless we are willing to accept and shake off our preconceived judgements about these gifts we may not see them fully for the gifts that they are. I am guilty of this in my grouchiness of "I did not want it this way" exclamations. Today I was reminded of this through SoulCollage®. I introduced this amazing process to Malley at Hallowell Clay Works. Magic was there as it usually is with SoulCollage®. The alchemical ingredients mix when a candle is lit, the images are set forth, the scissors and glue stick are used and ones imagination and intuition are engaged.
Please meet Priest Strange...I think he helps us find our strangest gifts and walks with us when we meet our milestones as we age. Priest Strange makes us scratch our head and wonder, "What the Hell?" and Priest Strange makes us laugh when we finally get the joke. Who wants to laugh at a joke we did not intend to hear or say? Life, the universe, the Source, our higher self brings us our very own Priest Strange when we need to "get off it!" as I many times do. Do you? Have you welcomed Priest Strange into your space lately to help you adjust to the newness or the opposite direction, the unintended, the letting go? Is this a milestone of aging, the adaption and invitation of Priest Strange into our lives so that as the going gets tough, our expectations are not met and our wishes are not fulfilled we can make it through. For me it is the comfort of the known that I enjoy. The discomfort of doing it another way or stretching my skin to places I would rather not, "it was not my choice" requires my Priest Strange, one of the holiest of the holy....
Growth and change and milestones. When you are in your 60's you have had many of your own. We create milestones for ourselves. These are growth markers as goals we set. Some are consciously made and some come to us out of the blue. Is an event that just happens a milestone or is it how we respond to it that milestones are created? My first major surgery last August 28. Was that a milestone? Probably not but within it there were definite milestones. There was coming home from the hospital, changing from the walker to the cane, my first walk out on my own, my first walk with my dog on a leash. It was like starting over again in some ways. Sometimes it seemed that it was taking all too long to reach those milestones. I needed patience and endurance. I guess this is how we all feel about these growth markers. There is a force within us that wants to grow. In the case of injury and illness the force wishes to heal and get better and in childhood the force helps us to grow up and to leave the nest of our parents.
The milestone of becoming a grandparent was not a goal I could set but it is an experience we all wish to have. We really don't have the ability to make it happen of course, we can only wish and hope. So not all of us reach milestones that we desire. Maybe it is not fair to call this experience of becoming a grandparent a milestone. We are here witnessing milestones for Freyja as she grows and that is due to a blessed gift given to us not a milestone we have met. Becoming a grandparent is simply a gift. Now on this side of the birth event I see and understand that more intimately. Not all of us receive the same gifts in this life. Many of us are grandparents at various ages but not all of us. Some of us have our children near by and some of us do not. I do get grouchy about this that I do not have, proximity. So, yes Chief as you said to me, we have to make it work. We have to reach out of our skin in ways that sometimes is uncomfortable as the gifts do not always come wrapped as we wish.
We have to look for our gifts. Many times they come in strange packages. So being alert and watchful is important to find our not so obvious gifts given by the unseen and unknowable. Some of us may never receive the gift we want or the way we want it but it comes in a different form. We may not be given a choice. Unless we are willing to accept and shake off our preconceived judgements about these gifts we may not see them fully for the gifts that they are. I am guilty of this in my grouchiness of "I did not want it this way" exclamations. Today I was reminded of this through SoulCollage®. I introduced this amazing process to Malley at Hallowell Clay Works. Magic was there as it usually is with SoulCollage®. The alchemical ingredients mix when a candle is lit, the images are set forth, the scissors and glue stick are used and ones imagination and intuition are engaged.
Please meet Priest Strange...I think he helps us find our strangest gifts and walks with us when we meet our milestones as we age. Priest Strange makes us scratch our head and wonder, "What the Hell?" and Priest Strange makes us laugh when we finally get the joke. Who wants to laugh at a joke we did not intend to hear or say? Life, the universe, the Source, our higher self brings us our very own Priest Strange when we need to "get off it!" as I many times do. Do you? Have you welcomed Priest Strange into your space lately to help you adjust to the newness or the opposite direction, the unintended, the letting go? Is this a milestone of aging, the adaption and invitation of Priest Strange into our lives so that as the going gets tough, our expectations are not met and our wishes are not fulfilled we can make it through. For me it is the comfort of the known that I enjoy. The discomfort of doing it another way or stretching my skin to places I would rather not, "it was not my choice" requires my Priest Strange, one of the holiest of the holy....
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