I am slightly in shock over recent turns in events…I feel like…I feel like…in allowing myself to sort of plunge into a darkness, see certain realities and then make a decision to move on and forward – a door opened and I have received something that is so priceless that I am slightly in awe of it all. Which doesn’t mean everything is hunky-dory, not by a long shot, but that the light at the end of the tunnel has finally started to appear around the corner.

I had the opportunity last night to participate in a very small benefit/celebration of something called “Pathways to Wellness” in Boston. It was something I wanted to go to, and then didn’t because of personal issues, and almost last minute decided to go and it was the best thing. To walk into a room of people where the energy was so high and connected as they celebrated not only 20 years of achievement and presence in the community (and seven other countries) of an organization that strives to provide complimentary care and research for how western traditional and eastern medicine can be combined to offer the best care, but to also do it in a way that reached out to make it an affordable and viable healthcare option for those without. In the process, they were also celebrating a woman, Kristen Porter, who has steered the organization as their Executive Director for over 7 years and was leaving that position to pursue research, her PhD and to become their Director of Integrated Research. Now, to give you an idea of why they would celebrate someone like that (above and beyond the usual office politics) – this woman came to their door 19 years ago, homeless and volunteered as their front desk help.

Someone from the local TV station opened an envelope and as a surprise, read to her that the Mayor of Boston proclaimed October 21st “Kristen Porter” day.

To give you an idea of the power and interest in the room, with less than 200 people in the rooms they raised over $71,000 before they even got to the silent auction to achieve their goal of $75,000. Mostly because, way back in the early years of Mmme. Porter being Executive Director, they had an enormous budget crisis and she was determined that never again would that agency suffer from such a crisis and face the possibility of not being able to provide care.

From one person deciding that they wanted to do, has come an agency that provides research, care and effective hope not just to their immediate communities but to any community willing to have them visit and show them the model they have created.

But most noticeable was the feeling in the room that here was a fund raiser that was devoid of personality even while simultaneously celebrating a person. And when was the last time you experienced something like that?

From one person, for whom the last thing that our popular model of social welfare would have wanted them to go volunteer, has come something that exists and gives beyond one person’d drive.

From one person that many would have written off earlier in her life or “tut-tutted” dreams as being unrealistic.

We are – not what we think, or say, or believe, or dream – but what we do. And that can stop and start periodically, but even when it reaches a temporary stop – all you have to do to begin again is just that – begin.

Take one step forward and all the stumbling from yesterday becomes a part of your history that you can choose to read from and learn, or just shut the damn book and start a new one. That is what living in the present is, but so many (including myself on occasion) try writing their present on the margins of the pages that hold the past.

The rest of the evening was just this easy flow.

I spent most of yesterday (prior to all this) hanging out in front of my computer and not really doing anything, just watching the Mad Kitten. Since she disappeared for those few days she doesn’t stray much. She sits in the sunlight, not in a very cat-like position, but leaning back against the wood of the step and watching as 4 or 5 squirrels now come into the yard and do their thing. Stan is the only one that will come within 2 feet of her, but the others get bolder. And she just sits there, unless one of the neighboring cats tries to even look in the yard – then she goes ballistic  - howling like a banshee, scattering squirrels and chasing the car away. Then she returns to her grass and wood throne.

And it was said to me last night that there is a feeling in the air of the “future coming to meet us” and that we are casting about looking for the things we lost – master artists and writers whose works teach and inform us; intelligent books and interpretations and films that go beyond recycled momentary entertainment and transcend our days to inform us about our lives; love that illuminates and creates rather than maintains. And I think that is true. But we discussed how the thing that hinders people from fulfilling their purpose is the lack of time that has been created. Gaining back your time is the first step.

It feels like Indian summer here today, the door is already open and MK is already out in her domain, rolling in the privacy of her grassland.

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