Nothing in my world is certain but “this too shall pass” which is my stock answer to everyone and anyone who asks for advice. Good or not, whatever is going on will be interrupted by change. 

Sometimes I let my guard down, thinking I’ve reached a state of stasis where the pattern of my life is on a path that has been steady (sometimes unrelentingly so) and I think, This is it.  This is what my last twenty years are going to look like” and then the Universe laughs at me and drops a boulder on what I thought would be a steady path.

John Lennon said, “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.”

Well, this time the Universe dropped a boulder ON me and I’ve been trying to carry the damn thing down the path.  Finally, I realized:

Put the damn boulder down.  There there.  See how nice that feels.  Walk around the damn things or crawl over them, but they’re not to be carried. And while you’re at it, clean out that backpack.  You don’t need all that shit.  And get some sturdy hiking boots while you’re at it.  You are not a forest nymph – bare feet for these, the last 20 good years, are going to require support and thick soles.

I think they call realizations of this magnitude epiphanies.

I know this too shall pass, but what I thought was an impasse is simply a wake-up call.  All my life, I’ve had to switch paths.  I have no idea why I clung to this one.  It wasn’t headed anywhere particularly interesting. 

So, I’m heading into the forest where there are lions and tigers and bears, oh my.  I hope to find the Emerald City.  I could use a spa day.