The Two Whos

Yun takes a longer route to go home after dropping her kids at school, because she wants to say “Thank you!” to the police woman who is guarding the school crossing.  She also likes to see this woman’s bright smiling face when she greets the children as they cross the street. As she watches, Yun remembers this song that Louis Armstrong sings.

When we see the  world and life through the eyes of gratitude, every word in Louis Armstrong’s song “What a Wonderful World!” rings of truth.

About The Mid-Week Symphony: Since Wednesday is the middle of the week, we have decided to take a moment and have a bit of down time from the writing. Each Wednesday, we would like to bring you a symphony of ideas, a harmony of thoughts, beauty, silliness and all things that make the fullness of life. When we started this blog we wanted it to reflect our entire personalities and interests..and that means yes…. Cece loves the Far Side Cows and Yun loves the mumble jumble philosophical books. Yun and Cece have many varied interests and we would like to share some of them with you each Wednesday.

Labyrinths have been created on the earth’s surfaces  for over 4500 years and cross many cultures and spiritual traditions.  Early labyrinths have been found in Crete , Egypt, Peru and India.    They are a cross cultural symbol of a person’s journey to the center of the self. They are a place to quiet the mind, walk, find balance,  meditate and pray.  Walking in one  is  a way to self-align.

Right before work on Monday morning Cece felt compelled to do an errand.  Afterward, she took a few steps on the sidewalk and then turned the other direction….she knew there was a labyrinth on this property…but where?

She headed north a bit and soon she was staring straight  down into it!  It was a large hand made labyrinth with  rocks and stones detailing the path and patterning of the walk ways.

Cece looked and looked and  knew she needed to make a beginning.  Walking one   takes time ..you cannot do it quickly…. and Cece had to get to work.  But, she told herself that this was a great way to begin her work day…with self-alignment and more silence.

She walked down to it.  Stepping in, she got a jolt!  She came to a screeching halt!  She lost her balance!  For a moment she stopped breathing and shook herself.  Slow down.  She had no choice. Balancing between each slow step now ,  she proceeded along the path.  She could see the indentations of the steps people took in the gravel before her.  The Navajo prayer “In Beauty do I walk...” was in her mind.. and that became her mantra step by step. She looked out and saw the beauty of the earth and was filled with gratitude.  She felt the warmth of the sun and was filled with its heat.

What a wonderful way to start this day.

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

Today, out in the woods

an old tree found me.

It said, “I am you” and a chorus

of whispers

blew by where I shook.

“I am you,” it said

with no words, no words

Big tree, dead huge memory

of itself, collapsing

to feed green shoots

ringing its base…

and the babble of whispers

blew by where I listened.

their small voices hard to hear:

“We, the seemed to say…

We

Are becoming you.”

And the shaking stopped.

——————————-

Anonymous-

This poem was given to a son at the passing of his  father.

About The Mid-Week  Symphony: Since Wednesday is the middle of the week, we have decided to take a  moment  and have a bit of down time from the writing.  Each Wednesday, we would like to bring you a symphony of ideas, a harmony of thoughts, beauty, silliness and all things that make the fullness of life.  When we started this blog we wanted it to reflect our entire personalities and interests..and that means yes…. Cece loves  the Far Side Cows and Yun loves the mumble jumble philosophical books.   Yun and Cece have many varied interests and we would like to share some of them with you each Wednesday.

Maybe you still remember Yun’s lamenting about taking out the trash on Sunday evening…  Just as she has accepted and settled into the routine of taking out the trash, life changes again….

This time, some  princes step  in and arrive to do the dirty work!

After years of Yun’s  persistent encouragement  (she confesses…..sometimes nudging…  occasionally with consequences…. at times “threatening” to get her sons to help with the house chores ) and , after much ‘frustration’ and “thinking that   ‘they will never learn how to be responsible,”    a miracle has  finally happened.  Her “clueless and irresponsible boys”  have turned into princes!

They did not arrive on white stallions with much fanfare and flourish, but they did arrive none the less!  All of a sudden,  they started to divide the household  chores.  They  folded clean laundry, put clean dishes away, fed the birds, cats and fishes, clean the  kitty litters, vacuumed  etc…    Most of all, gathering the trash around the house and taking it out to the garbage bins!

Parenthood is almost like hiking an unknown trail.  After hiking the treacherous mountain for miles, finally one summits the top unexpectedly and you can see the grand view for the first time.  The joy and disbelief all mix into  one deep gentle breath, and all the hard work getting to the top  is evaporated into the fresh air and expanse of the view that is in front of you!   The hardship of the climbing and the frustration of the slow progress seem so insignificant and even silly at this exact moment.

Time never stands still, neither does the life situation.  Our tendency to think in a permanent (and global) way is fundamentally flawed.   At this moment, all we can do is to set the intention and have faith, then just take one step at time.  When the time is right, all will work out in its own term.  Any effort to control can only result in frustration.

Children are changing constantly,  this moment they are ‘irresponsible” and next you know, they are taking out the  trash!  This moment they are ‘obedient’ and next you know, you have a black sheep running about….baaaaa!

What  would our parenting experiences be like if we did not  take this moment for granted?  What  if we took  this moment as a transient moment into the next and next?  As far as Yun can tell, it has made her motherhood so much more enjoyable and full of anticipating of what’s next…

I do not know what life will be, but I know this intense joy and fun!

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

Family practices  can be very powerful tools to carry on traditions from one generation to the other.  So it was with a family tradition in Cece’s home.

Each time her mother  baked a chicken, who ever found the wish bone got to hang it up to dry and then got to chose another person to break it with.  To break it meant that each person would hold the wish bone in their pinky finger and on command, they would pull.  Whoever got the bigger end, would make a silent wish.

Cece has been collecting wish bones for probably over 20 years!    She has them hanging up in her kitchen.  She forgets they are there until a new friend will come over and notice all those bones hanging up!  She has to explain and tell the story.

She has been saving these wish bones until she thought she had enough.  She was waiting until she felt the wishes and prayers would be so abundant that whatever the wish or the prayer…the universe would surely respond!

Last week, she  finally gave them to her friend and his wife as they went off for cancer treatment in  Houston.  The wishbones  hold in them many spoken and many unbroken wishes and prayers for recovery from cancer.  She passed then on so that they could  make a wish, say a prayer or send up positive energy  into the universe…for healing and strength and so they could pull on the energy of those that have passed on….for their strength and courage to guide then through their  process.

So, as you read this…please add your own wishes and prayers to the wishes and prayers that Cece  and Yun are  sending…along with the certain hope for recovery.

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos