Spring Equinox 2016
Long Beach, Vancouver Island
January 23rd I came home from my usual Saturday morning run to the Downtown Farmer’s Market to commotion in the front lobby of my condo complex. Water was ankle deep on the main floor; someone was trying to find the key to the utility room so that we could turn the water off. We didn’t know where it was coming from. I joined the search. Ten minutes and a whole lot of damage later, we found the burst pipe. I walked into my own unit hoping that it had escaped somehow, but the water was in my master bedroom and my living room, coming up in the carpets and the walls.
If you know me, you know that I thrive on structure, routine, and order. Water washes all of that away. The walls in my bedroom had to be torn open, the living room and bedroom furniture piled and covered, the baseboards torn off. My office has also become my sleeping quarters, dining room, and living room all in one. I often eat while I read my email. Somehow between my bed and a narrow shelf I’ve managed to squeeze a yoga mat. In one corner, about four feet by three, I’ve laid down cushions, a prayer rug and a stack of books, and this is where I read every night before I go to bed.
This room reflects a distillation of the things that are really important to me. It’s a bit like living a monk’s life, except that I’m still very much in the world: I work and go out and go about my business. Of course, some days it’s an annoyance when I get up too quickly from reading and knock my head on the computer tray that I’ve left sticking out. There’s no good place to put my clock (there’s no room for a night table), so some mornings I have slept through the alarm. And I can’t get used to walking through the bedroom to my closet every morning past all the remnants of the destruction. But the months before this happened, and accelerated since the flood, I’d been working to make more space in my life, to live more spontaneously, more fluidly. It was the reason why I spent a week in February on the Pacific Rim walking the beaches and watching the storms. Why I’ve been accepting more invitations for coffee, for supper, and invitations to share my writing. I wonder some days what this might be preparation for, this opening? Retirement? That’s still several years off. Loss? A new relationship? Aging? New writing projects? Somehow it connects to a desire for balance.
Tonight I took part in the neighbourhood Earth Hour celebration at Boyle Street Plaza: Glow. As we paraded our paper lanterns down 96th Street in the dark, I felt a strong sense of optimism about the new spring coming towards us, and looking out over the river valley, about the mix of both shadow and light in our city, our world, and our universe.
9 Comments
Mary
March 20, 2016Hi Audrey
Sorry to hear of your ‘flood’. Does it have something to do with ‘go with the flow’?? I always look forward to your blogs. Have a Happy Spring! It’s that time of regeneration/renewal/planting/growing – all of which require water.Take care.
Mary
Audrey
March 20, 2016Thank you, Aunt Mary. Dr. Aung, my acupuncturist, told me a long time ago that one of my elements is water. “That is why the water finds you!” Yes, I think going with the flow gets to the core of it. I think I am learning detachment.
Linda Bumstead
March 20, 2016Hi Audrey,
Too bad about your flood! It seems as if you are dealing with it very well. I find disorder really difficult myself and floods cause such mess.
It’s interesting that you are trying to find more space in your life. I think that will stand you in good stead regardless of what your future holds.
I noticed lots of budding trees when we walked to the Baroque concert at Robertson Wesley Church.
Linda
Audrey
March 20, 2016Oh, that sounds like a lovely concert for a spring day.
Jano thibodeau
March 20, 2016hi Audrey, I enjoyed reading about your water experience ~ Water is always in relationship with H2O one molecule of hydrogen and 2 molecule of oxygen ~ when my husband left the family for another woman my dreams were all about water, ocean, rivers, the shower was pouring water cleaning the house , one real morning in the kitchen I turn the tap on, I heard the water speak to me saying: where ever I am I am always true to myself H2O you be the same. this was a teaching from water ~
Pearl Gregor
March 22, 2016Indeed there is something about water … I can attest to the desire for organization! And in my dream,work over the last three decades water is a constant theme with respect to the unconscious. Having said that, I have dealt with two major sewer backups … 2013 and 2015. And the meaning? insert laughter! Seriously, love your spring equinox and water experiences. We are born from water, emerged at the dawn of creation from the primal mud and water is Life. Dive deep.
Blessings. Pearl
Audrey
March 24, 2016Funny that you should say that. After Dr. Aung told me I had a water nature, he added, “Enjoy!”
Audrey Brooks
March 22, 2016The shock of having your safe place suddenly invaded by a deluge over which you have no control is devastating, never mind having to hole up in an artificial womb in which you must bump around for a significant amount of time before you can be “reborn” into a renewed “world.” My first thought was, ” I’m glad that didn’t happen to me,” but a few years ago we had clear water in the basement, and I remember being totally unnerved; it was so unexpected. I didn’t attach any momentous significance to it, we just mopped it up and dried the carpets. I would have been inconsolable had it done the damage you had in your apartment. Your description of it shows both trauma, and the coping necessary to get through!! Blessings to you in this coming of spring, may your days now be filled with sunshine, and your living space open its arms to you again.
Jo Ann Symonds
March 24, 2016Hi Audrey,
What an experience and written up so well. I know about routine and space. We just moved to small space and of course a different routine. It has been an experience to adjust to. Our two cats I think have done better than us.
Enjoy spring and thanks for your reflection. JoAnn