Greetings from beautiful cool Sedona.  I arrived this afternoon to cloudy skies and cool temps (ok for us cool is 60 ok?).  I immediately lit the fireplace, grabbed a hot shower and put on my flannel pj’s.  Ohyeah then I changed my sheets to the flannel ones.  And lit my “log cabin” candle.  I am pretending I’m in a wintry cabin scene.  It’s heavenly.

Speaking of heaven, I had yet another mystical bridge experience last evening I’d like to share.  I swear, I almost never walk that bridge without something truly magical happening.  It’s my portal to another dimension, or reality actually perhaps.  I really need to walk it more often.

My friend Sue from Vancouver, Canada was in town for work.  I did 3 days on the Master Cleanse so wasn’t eating or drinking so thought hey it would be fun to take a walk and take her to the bridge.  It was awesome–primarily to see her as it had been a few years since we’d seen each other in person and I just love her.  We met online following the Scott Peterson trial and then in person in Vancouver and here in AZ.  As she said last night “I sure wish I lived closer so we could hang out all the time”.  Feeling’s mutual.

After our nice little 2 mile or so walk along the lake, I told her some bridge stories and about my ritual.  How I step on it one way with my right foot with an intention to let go of something on that pass, then on the return step with my left foot with the intention of filling that space with something new.

me stepping w/ Alfonse last Fall

So that’s what we did.

As we reached the end, I reminded her of the instructions for walking back and we stood at the bridge entrance simultaneously stepping with our left feet.  We walked a few steps and a man riding a bike really fast zipped past us and said something.  It sounded to me like “you’re welcome” but then Sue said what he really said was the word “welcome”.

Welcome!  Welcome to the Bridge.  Welcome to this new beginning.  Welcome back!

We were pondering this and Sue said “do you realize you just said the word ‘welcome’ as you were explaining to me what to do”?.  I guess I said something like “now we welcome back in to ourselves something to fill the space we just created”.  That sounds like something I’d say.

This cyclist couldn’t have heard me say it as he was probably half way down the bridge when I was speaking.

“Welcome” he said as he rode right past us.  “Welcome”.

A few steps later, I looked up and who do I see walking straight toward us?

My friend Kim Porter!  She’s this amazing playwright and actress I know who I admire so much and have become friends with kind of recently. Walking straight toward me…in to my welcome!

I won’t reveal what my letting go/receiving wishes were but let’s just say seeing Kim was just perfect.

Sue and I ended up sitting on a bench talking for an hour or so more.  I could have sat there all night talking with her but my bladder started screaming at me (ya know, the Master Cleanse).

So we said goodnight and I got in my car to leave and had a message waiting from another friend.  A friend I’m getting ready to meet at a wonderful spiritual conference next month in DC (Michael Beckwith anybody?).  She was reviewing some notes from the last time we attended this conference together and wanted to share some thoughts with me.

I’ll just go back and listen and transcribe her message here for you right now.

“We have to clear our resistance to change in order to create space for that change.   And the other thing I read was pretty much the same thing but by a totally different speaker that said we have to create space in ourselves to welcome the new thing we’re hoping for”.

She had no idea I was on the bridge with Sue (who she also knows) performing that exact ritual at the time she left that message.

I’ve been dealing with a lot of feelings and pondering around the whole world of belonging lately.  Feeling untethered and looking for solid ground.

These kinds of experience show me that I’m always connected.  Those invisible strings are always holding me in place and moving and shifting just like the amazing web of our fascial system does in order to accomodate growth, stress and change.

I live for these signs of life.

And just writing this tonite I find myself breathing just a little deeper.