When the Window Opens

Greetings all,

Well we had winter for two days this week, but we seem to be firmly entrenched in spring now.  I've had a low key week which is nice considering the flurry of activity that March was.  I am doing my best not to overcommit myself this month.  Which is lasting about five minutes it would seem.  Somehow the pacing in my life is finally picking up.  I can't complain, for years my calendar was empty and my phone silent.  Now I have to silence my phone.  Things do come around.

My big story this week is that at long last my car has a working driver side window again.  HURRAH!  For any of you who have ever had a window you couldn't roll down you know why I am so excited.  I have the wind again.  I hadn't been able to roll the window down since early last May, and let me tell you the summer was miserable in my car because of that.  So in the early evening I was treated to the feeling of the breeze on my face as I drove towards home.

It is often said that it is the simple things in life you treasure.  For the past twenty four hours I have had random upwellings of joy.  I was blessed that a friend of mine's husband had the tools and mechanical skills to get the job done.  With myself providing the parts and the friends and family discount they offered me, I was able to afford this miracle of modern engineering, a working power window.  It is the small things over the course of a life that really add up into something special:  cooking a meal for a loved one, leaving a light on for them, a hand of support on a shoulder, offering to pick someone up from the airport, or calling someone to check on them.

We have the myth of the self made man (or woman) in our culture.  We value independence, and it is important to learn to stand on your own.  However, it is an illusion.  Most of us don't build our own houses, grow our own food, make our own clothes, manufacture our own cars, and cut our own roads.   We are interdependent.  All of us together create the conditions to make it easier for all of us to function in the world.  Very few of us go it alone, we are all standing on the accomplishments of those who have gone before us, and thousands of unseen people who's contributions touch our lives.  I felt so accomplished yesterday, but all I did was buy parts (which by the way a friend helped me look up).  It is a small thing, a window, but it allows us to see beyond our walls.  A window that opens is helping me see the connection between people and the interplay of giving and receiving.

So why am I telling you this?  Well honestly I'm still riding the, " I have working car window again,", high.  Seriously though, there are so many ways that we can help each other, and when we do we see the world in a kinder and clearer light.  Right now we may not have all the pieces we need, but odds are someone we know does.  More importantly we may have something that they need as well, but are too shy to ask us for.  With the ways of the world a door may close on the traditional path to getting what we need, but a window may open instead.  That window may take you some place you hadn't expected, and sometimes that is the best place to be.  I hope you find the solutions in each other this week.

Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle