Flexibility

Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart; I breathe at this hour the fragrance of the lilacs, the violets, and the roses, as at twenty years ago. – Victor Hugo

Navigating these intense circumstances has created a prism of variables to consider, weighing optimism and pragmatism. It has also created a window to go inward… while being bunkered down at home time has slowed like an oil painting beginning to dry.

I drew a card today from my flower deck and pulled a lilac- an extraordinary flower known for its enchanting aromatic scent. Lilacs represent flexibility and I can’t help but think of the areas of my life where I could allow more flexibility to blossom…

These last few months have been a blur of managing, prioritizing and strategizing how I could make it all flow, particularly with work, grad school and life as a wife and mom. I really thought I was making it work but failed to realize the restriction and parameters I had built around me, trying to steer a ship with little time and sleep.

But flexibility requires an understanding of what is most important and having everything else bend gently to that… Flexibility is also a gracious reminder of the gift of childhood; a short window of time that I want to savor with my daughter while she is so young and tiny: a time for play.

I remember being a young girl and the joy of allowing my day to just unfold. There was space in that, a distinct beauty and ease that I found in a whole wide world that I couldn’t wait to grow into. I think I can still remember that feeling… I want to invite it back… To breathe new life and space in my goals, focus, and responsibilities, allowing them room to be more potent and alive.

I am grateful for the little buddings of flexibility that have begun to emerge from this fertile soil, announcing its theme for this chapter of my life.