Hiate

Hiate

Being a big fan of words I was intrigued when I read this made up word from one of the blogs sites I read.  Apparently she is taking a few weeks off to recharge her batteries and other such non-doing things that allow some creative flow to come forth. A season to plant, a season to reap….. It seems to be a theme of late.

I know times such as these are important if not critical for creative flow and rejuvenation of all sorts but I still have a challenging time in non-doing. Decades of “pedal to the metal” started shifting several years ago. In days past I would create on the fly (literally) between destinations in my home away from home, Delta Seat 5A. A few hours to ….a few hours fro…..and voila’….”creation” …that was the extent of it. In between times were spent in meetings or with a few cell phones in my ear and the people who mattered to me got what was left. I would have fought tooth and nail to tell you that 100% of me was “always available” but the truth (hindsight) was that it was more like 1%....................on a good day.

For the past several years this way of being has shifted pretty drastically with one re-visit to the “flat out” well that lasted a bit over a year. As it turns out that “visit” to the way back machine was enough to remind me of my tendency to lose sight of really important things for the sake of money, busy-ness and ego.

I’ve not written too much lately because I’ve just not been “feeling it” in terms of writing about what has been going on. We’ve been so fortunate to have grandchildren and their mom’s visit for the past weeks that real time experiences have been taking precedence over writing about them.  The fact that no open projects exist also adds to my free time (hiate) and for this I am really grateful. In my non-doing of the past few weeks I have been able to do the following short list of things with our younger village members that would have never been possible if my prior life was still playing out in its old worn out way:  Zoo, Dinosaur Exhibits, Scuba Diving Lessons, Swimming (above and below) 1^st with swimmies then without , Body Surfing, Monster Sand  Castle Building, Eating Dead Fish (Smoked Trout- oh so much fun to dissect), Teaching Billiards/Loosing at Billards, Teaching Chess / Loosing at Chess, Coloring, Legos, Arts and Crafts……………and more swimming and then more swimming…….. an tons of other things

Today I took LLL on several excursions on foot around the neighborhood. We visited the Mgmnt. office and picked out a couple of DVDs for quiet time and then went to the movie ticket store for tonight’s activity. I took the long way home so I could show her some of the tall buildings we both enjoy in our area and on the way got a chance to lift her up to smell some of my favorite flowers (Gardenia and Magnolia) and discuss the characteristics of each, from leaves to bark. Along the way we picked up some beautiful sticks because I mentioned that sometimes it’s fun to find such items on long walks. She was determined to find THE most beautiful stick in the city for “Grammy”. What love.

Once we were at the “Tall Buildings” she wanted me to take her through each place I stood when I photographed them so she could see exactly what I saw through the lens of the photos that she viewed previously on the computer. “Oh, grampa – I see the building in a building “…………”Oh, YES, it DOES look like a pyramid from here”…………..”I think those clouds mean rain”………….”Look more Magnolias”……..and on and on……..so much knowlege in a small little body.

It was hot and we took a break to walk around the central fountain of the courtyard of the facility. While we were walking she asked about the special places people have in their hearts for people they love. “Do you have a special place for me Grampa?”………..”Oh, LLL”,  I answered,  “come and feel this place here, this is my special spot just for YOU!. It came the day you were born”………….and this one is for L1 and L3 and KH and Mommy and AH and UF and this huge spot here is for Grammy”…………..We walked a few more laps around the fountain stopping a few times to “check the spot” on my heart………………”Yep, grampa it’s still there” she confirmed with each pass………

When we entered our building and she pressed the button for our floor she asked “Grampa, I sure would like to know HOW this elevator works, could you show me?”………”Sure LLL, when I have a project with an elevator we’ll take a peek and I’d love to show you  how they work”.  She then stopped outside the door of the elevator after dropping us off  and said (while shaking her head in amazement) “You mean that that elevator sits there all day just waiting until somebody pushes the button?”…………..”Yep”, I answered, “It’s only job is come and pick you up and then drop you off on your floor when you call it”…………….. She nodded approvingly as if to say “Yep, as it should be”………………A powerful young woman from a line of powerful women. Watch out world !

If not for my current state of Hiate-ing I would have missed it all.

The Universe kind.