…may you find some comfort there.” That is the line to one of my favorite Sarah Mclachlan songs, “Angel.” Every time I hear it, I just want to burst into tears because it moves me so much.
This past week we have had several invitations for dinner (which is lunch) and “Onces” (which is dinner) at some of the womens’ homes from the Casa. It has been very nice to get to know some of them better, and they always have great food! However, it can be quite exhausting to sit for 2 or 3 hours at a time, and try to take in as much Spanish as possible, but either way, it has been great to feel so welcomed. Last night, we went over to Julia’s host mom’s home to have Onces with her and she made the most fabulous bread! I have never eaten fresh bread right out of the oven like that before and I am not sure I will ever prefer it any other way now, not to say that won’t ever eat it any other way hehe. It was simply delicious.
Tonight, we had an invitation from Pati to have Onces with her and it was a great visit with good conversation. While we were eating and talking, she had the soundtrack to the movie City of Angels playing, and at one point Sarah’s “Angel” came on. I couldnt help but let my mind sneak away from the conversation to take in the beautiful words and melody to that song.
The Casa today did not have that sense of tranquility, with all of the preparations for the Pena, it has been quite busy. I think its going to be crazier the next couple of days too! I am looking forward to the Pena in the sense of what the experience will be like, but at the same time I am dreading it because I feel its going to be chaotic and I won’t know what anyone is saying hehe. I guess I will just have to wait and see, and just go with the flow.
Speaking of going with the flow, I have still been reading Without a Vision, the People Parish, and it continues to draw me in to new ideas and ways of thinking. She recently has discussed the idea of how there are no independent enities- not even humans are independent- and how everything is a single part of a greater whole; and that whole is greater than the sum of all those single parts that make it up. It is the relationships of those parts that allows the system of the whole to flow. In the past, science was always looked at from a reductionist perspective- trying to work from the whole and discover the building blocks that make it up. But now, with quantum physics and broader horizons in the ways of thinking, new theories speculate that there are no building blocks that make a whole, because everything is a web of waves and interconnections that keep building off of one another. The parts by themselves mean nothing, it is the relationships between them and the energy they share that is important to the whole. So even when looking at us as humans, we dont make sense without focusing on our relationship to the greater whole of the Earth, of the Universe. She discusses many theories from great minds like Einstein, Newton and Heinsburg; and even though I have studied their work before, I am seeing it all in a new light. All of the ideas can become very complicated, but it all makes so much sense! I could go on and on about all of this for pages and pages, but I will spare you.
Anyway, before reading all this, I had no idea that it would be these topics that would be my inspiration for seeing all of the Ordinary Miracles that surround me. They are everywhere! I have learned that absolutely everything is a miracle, essentially- from giving a smile to the ability to have a conversation with others, or from taking a walk through town to the simple idea that gravity, in a way, keeps us all together and connected. We all witness ordinary miracles everyday, simply by our relationships.
All of this new information has my mind constantly going- constantly. As Sarah said in “Angel,” maybe “I need some distraction, Oh beautiful release.” I may start reading my novel again, so as to not overwhelm my brain too much hehe.
