Tonight my Mother leaves for Dubai. She is following her dreams, checking places off of her Bucket list and moving through her fears of traveling. She waited until after my Father died in order to really explore the world. And while he was a wonderful husband, father, and role-model, he was also a security blanket in which we could curl up with at night and feel safe. But safety does not get us to our dreams. We have to push past the safety, we have to take risks and move through the fears in order to experience all that we are…magnificent, vital, connected beings.
I love my Father dearly, and miss his physical presence every day (oh yeah, he’s still here laughing with us, and traveling with us wherever we go) but I am so grateful to have my Mother as my strongest role-model now. It was in watching her sacrifice, nurse, love unconditionally, support, wax and wane, grieve and redefine her life after the loss of her partner that I really came to witness what love truly is…a process of opening and closing, of breathing in and breathing out, of sending echoes across a canyon and feeling gratitude during the dissipation.
So Mama, I love you. I am so proud of you and I am so happy that you are taking on the world one big leap at a time!
Keep putting yourself out there! It’s all meaningful, it’s all beautiful and it’s alright!