the morning after

About two weeks ago, I picked up an ornate ceramic bowl that has been sitting on some surface in my homes for over 12 years; a nice neat slice of it remained in my hand as I watched the rest of it fall back onto the coffee table. Yesterday, I walked into the mini disaster that was my apartment after a 5.8 earthquake hit the east coast. Almost everything on the walls was hanging askew; a champagne glass fell out of the cabinet hitting me before it crashed to the floor. Several things had been launched from their various perches landing on top of one another or far from where they had stood and a few sculptures and ceramic pieces were broken.

When the bowl cracked so neatly in my hand that day, I remember thinking that though broken it was not beyond fixing. I took that as a metaphor for how I was managing situations with people and took steps to rectify some of my missteps….some, not all. So as the earth moved under my bum yesterday during a meeting, one of the first things that came to mind after evacuating to safety those around me and checking in with friends and family was the one person I wanted to speak with that I was no longer speaking to. Suddenly, the misunderstanding caused by miscommunication felt trivial and just plain silly when all I wanted to know was if my friend was safe from possible harm.

Perhaps Mother Nature was sending me and I am sure thousands more messages that only each person would comprehend. It took the shake, rattle and roll of an earthquake that lasted no more than a few minutes for two people to unearth words that couldn’t be found for weeks because of ego, pride and maybe a little fear. As I pulled out the glue to patch up the broken, it was very clear to me that what I held in my hand was just stuff when compared to the welfare of and relationships with people in my life; the thought of never hearing someone’s voice again puts a stop to the nonsense and can quell the deepest tremor.

Pick up the pieces, patch up what’s damaged if in your heart you know it’s right and as you do….

keep your peepers open!®