Home Sweet Home!

One week ago I was writing this looking out on the beauty of the Swiss Alps.  Today I sit in my own home looking out at a dusting of snow on the lawn, vines stripped of leaves and a few leaves that are persistent “hanger on-ers”.   A beauty in its own right.

I arrived home on Tuesday evening.  19 hours from my niece’s doorstep to mine.  Amazing really.  Travel feels a bit surreal to me.  I get into the “zone” when I travel and can do little more than observe what is going on around me.  I had thoughts of reading or writing or listening to my ipod and I did none of those.  I was just in the midst of everything going on around me.

A trip begins the moment we say “I am going to ……..”.  The plans, the research, the anticipation……all of this is part of the travel and the adventure.  In many ways I feel that I am still on my travels as I am now processing and feeling the whole of it.  It is a very lovely time and I find I want quiet and time to reflect on it all. 

I sat by a beautiful young woman from Kuwait on the way to Switzerland.  She had several more hours to fly after landing in Amsterdam.  The woman sitting across from me was from the Ukraine and her seat mate a German woman.  Behind them was a couple from Denmark.  There was lively Italian conversation being spoken just behind me…….a family with 2 young boys.  People returning to Switzerland speaking French……oh, and the Norwegian girls.  Truly an international flight.

I can feel that this trip was very good for me.  The ease and flow of living with my niece and her family for one week was a precious gift.  The beautiful heartfelt connections, the fun with the kids, the new sights of the old places, the incredible beauty of Switzerland, the great food…….all of this and more.  I don’t know what that is yet but I can feel it simmering inside of me.  Something very good happened for me there and time will reveal it.  Or it will just be a subtle energy shift that will just become a part of me.  Quiet and deep.

In my 20’s, I was all about traveling.   It was all that I wanted to do. 

Now in my late 50’s, I am all about connection.  That is all I want to do.

When I was in that amazing cathedral in Lausanne, all I could think about were the hundreds and thousands of people that had laughed and cried and wept and prayed in that sacred space.  No matter where we go we are the same.  We want to be loved and appreciated and heard.  We want our loved ones to be safe and to be happy. 

I can be in a beautiful new setting or here comfortable in my own home and what always fills me is my connection with life.  I can be alone and be filled or I can be with another and be filled.  I can be listening to music and be filled or I can be in the silence and be filled.  The more deeply I am connected to myself the more I am filled where I am.

This season has taken me inside myself, however.  It is the natural place to travel this time of year. 

I am home and I am grateful to be here but I will ever be grateful for the week I spent with my beloved niece and her family.  No words can describe what we shared.  I am so grateful for the gifts of what I have learned the last several years as it has allowed me to connect with others in ways that I did not have before.

May our hearts stay open.  May we continue to reach out and touch each others hearts.  May we find the courage to speak our truth and watch the feelings of separation fall away……..my love and gratitude to each of you who read my words.  Melanie