Life Tapestries

Missing Paris Day is finally back after a hiatus. 

And while I have this photo somewhere from an exhibit in Paris many years ago

(The Lady and the Unicorn tapestry series)

(I even bought the coasters in the gift shop and use them at home),

I had to borrow this image cause who knows where that photo is!?

Lately it feels like someone keeps punching holes in the fabric of my life,

my tapestries, 

you know those threads that we weave tightly together,

threads dipped and gilded, steeped in our beliefs, 

our safety nets, our security blankets wrapped around us?! 

I'd been asking for some changes to help me propel myself to the next level

but I wanted, you know, small changes with big benefits. 

And maybe, possibly even with some benefits I can see. 

Between my own health issues
(which one after another keep trying to scare me out of my mindset),

the very painful (for her) death of a close friend
and then the ensuing pain of loss for 30 years of friendship, 

loss of my career (due to said health issues and an injury) as well as my income,

and other minor but still painful punches,

my tapestry is starting to look like it's been carried around by a homeless person,

used to keep warm and maybe even slept under... 

on the streets ... since the Middle Ages. 

But we keep on plugging. And trying to find the beauty and the blessings. 

Cause that's what this life is about. That's how we survive.

And that's what she did.

And I know I'm not alone.
It's a freaking jungle out there.
And everyone, and their mother and grandmother and sister, has a story. 

This week I am so blessed to be at my writing retreat on the Oregon Coast

(even with having to hire someone to haul my week's worth of necessities

up all the stairs to the house and then more stairs to my room).

The sun came out for awhile yesterday so I took a break from my room, 

worked in a cafe in my favorite little beach town nearby 

and spent some time outdoors by the ocean. 

Now more than ever, 

it feels so important to cherish every moment,

the heartbreakingly beautiful ones, so starkly sad ones, 

the gut-wrenchingly (and gut-punchingly) powerful

and achingly exquisite ones. 

This may be one of my last few visits to my writing retreat 

that I've gone to twice a year for the last eight years

so I'm trying to look at it through those eyes. 

Everything is precious

here and in life. 

The beauty, the broken things. 

The words and ways we talk to each other, treat each other, 

the ways we make each other feel. 

Our tapestries already get so threadbare and worn

from uncaring, outside influences.

And from the giant holes some unseen force

decides we need to learn how to sew with our minds!

Take care of each other's fabric.

And cherish all the Feels. 

We still get to be here to feel them!
But only for so long.

(Lady and the Unicorn tapestry photo via Wiki)

(Beach photo copyright Kirsten Steen)