Life is in the Details

Providence does happen.

Yesterday I happened to be downtown near the Title 9 store on Pearl Street.  I may need to buy a light weight and warm coat for the Celtic Camino since we will be crossing the Pyrenees until mid-November.  As I wandered around the store, the manager and I started a very casual conversation.  Two major things unfolded during this conversation.  As we talked, I mentioned that I am going to walk the Camino.  She became curious about what and where it was, and asked me if I was going with my little one.  I quickly said "no" but became suspicious - did she think I was pregnant?

All of my issues around my belly and looking pregnant flared up.  Really?  Does she really think that?  I walked around the store a little more, and while I tried on a pair of pants, I resolved to ask her if this is what she meant.  This decision to ask was another little life-turning decision.

I did buy a 3 pack of  underwear - the kind you can wash and wear quickly and easily.  When I was purchasing them, I asked her, "So, did you think that I was pregnant?" or something along those lines.  She responded with a "No, I thought you had a little guy.  Don't you come in the store with a young child?"  Hmm...no, I don't and you must be thinking of someone else. 

Not sure that I 100% believed her, but willing to give her the credit of the doubt.  If I believed her, then I had to let go of my sensativity about my belly and that I must have looked pregnant.  If not that then, what else?  Was I willing to this go and be really present in the conversation?

Interesting opportunity for choice, eh?

I chose to be present.

And in this moment, the manager, whose name I found out is Susan, reminded me about putting up a flyer in the store, and then, in her next breath, offered me the possibility of giving a talk on the Camino in the store.  They could keep the store open late one evening, I could bring pictures, they could put up a screen for showing the pictures, and I could give a talk.  In this moment, I was invited to be speak about the Camino.

Spirit was inviting me, through Susan, to become a Pilgrimage Speaker.

I said YES.

When I finish writing here this morning, I am going to email her to set this up.  I am going to speak about the Camino, going on a pilgrimage, and the Celtic Camino.

Thank you Spirit.  Thank you Susan.

What I learned in this microcosmic interaction is that in every moment we have the opportunity to make a choice:  to be present in what is, or to be in our stuff, our triggers.  We can be open and receptive, or we can be contracted and restricted.  One choice allows for the flow and connection; the other choice repels the flow and cuts it off.  And it's in these daily interactions and details that our life shows up, that our life shapes itself and that we show who we truly are. 

I just saw something on Facebook from Laura Day - she said that "life is in the details."  Perhaps this is one of those details that actually is something much bigger too, and how we show up and relate to the details is a reflection of how we show up in our lives.

The Celtic Camino continues to pull me...to call me forth.  Thank you.  I wonder what I will say YES to today?

Suseya!
Sahara