LOVE IS GENTLE, LOVE IS KIND, LOVE HONORS NEED FOR SOLITUDE TOO!

With spring in the air, trees are blossoming, snow has come to our mountains, and the storms of winter still tease us as the days grow longer, and hints of springtime are everywhere.
     The third photo is of Jaime happily encircled by his finance Meagan (left) and her twin sister, Lara.  They are all together now in preparation for the big wedding day, March 7.  It all began many years back when Meagan spent a few months with her Chilean family, and what was thought to be a summer fling turned into a very patient unfolding, as their love required years of phone cals, letter-writing, and occasional visits when Jaime flew to Eugene for Christmas with Meagan's family, or she used her frequent flyer miles to visit him in Chile.    After she earned her Masters in Social Work from George Washington University, she took the big leap of moving to Santiago, leaving behind her many friends in the states.
     They have had to be patient, letting their love unfold and blossom in  its own unique timing, trusting in what was often difficult--the separations, the time Meagan put into finding meaningful  work in  Santiago, the extra challenges only they know about with maintaining a relationship across  continents.  They have been engaged for a year now, and the wedding is only a week away!
  Linda once gave me a book on Meditations for Women who Do Too Much,  and it is full of wisdom on the necessity of solitude, time for oneself as a life-giving force, not a perversion.   So often we live with conflicted feelings, and we need down time to sort them out, to know when to be bold, when to retreat, when  to speak  out, when to be silent.  I have learned without  time in solitude, it is so easy to be swayed by other's hopes/expectations, and I can lose my own sense of direction.  Saying no to another  can be an essential way to say yes to myself; when we both reach out with love and are open to being vulnerable once again,  we need some time-out to honor our personal time too,  for other friendships, for enjoying the mysteries  of being committed to loving in its many dimensions.  Being in a hurry, we can lose sensitivity and the ability to use restraint.  This is why love can be difficult as well as delightful and fun!
   Before I need to tend to my body, here is some wisdom from the Runes, an oracular system that predates the I Ching by 1000 years, and emerges  from Viking/Northern European, not Chinese thought/philosophy. "Life can  be hard and difficult and we are not always clear.  The channels that we are become blocked by fears, silted up with self-doubt.  We do not always hear the still small voice that is our natural inheritance.  The Runes can be a bridge to our Knowing Self."  Today I chose  Jera, a rune of beneficial outcome but no quick results can be expected.  " To those whose labor has a long season,  a long coming to term, JERA offers encouragement  of success ...be mindful that patience is essential along with courage for the recognition of your own process." How timely, for much of my life has been about laboring with little to support me but wisdom from within and the help of timely, caring friends.  Love is not a linear process, but a deep unfolding of the best within us.