My father died last weekend. The next series of 'Marcus and Me' entries will be dominated by my reflections on this wonderful, joyous man and the truly, spiritually good man that Tom Harwood was. And what his influence has been and will forever be.
The tide will come back in. But right now, I am alone on the strand with my feet sinking into the gooey sand, my toes struggling with gluey grip the strand has on me. I am taking in all that Nature's changes reveal. Which on the surface is not much.
But what if you look closer.
There is a community of life that strives to wait out the outflow in this in-between land. Sand crabs and clams maintain their stasis wallowing within the sea left behind in among the sand granules. Clumps of slimy sea grass and seaweed huddle together staying low and wet - sharing their adhering moisture to keep their community going until the sea returns again. For then they will reach for the heights.
Yet there is another community that thrives in the emergence of those things now visible. In the midst of the sea change, shore birds cackle out their joy of new opportunity. Nourishment long submerged now lies out in the sun ready for plucking. The birds chaotically rush to challenge and defend the pecking order.
Life is most precious. It will not be denied. Offer life any sliver of opportunity and beings will grow into a newly formed void to find an environment to thrive.
Life can exist in any environment that meets some minimum Natural requirement. Yet Nature is as constant in its changes as the tides. And life is growth, for without growth the changes imposed by Nature would provide not opportunity but extinction.
It is time to take my toes out of the muck to head inland to my own environment, to my own opportunities, to my own journey. To my own life. To my own growth. All made possible by the fact that the tide will come back in and I must be ready.
Marcus Aurelius - Does another do me wrong. Let him look to it. He has his own disposition, his own activity. I now have what the universal Nature wills me to have; and I do what my nature now wills me to do.
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For those who have passed, that sliver of opportunity is found within all of their loved ones who are left here. By remembering and celebrating, we create an environment that not only allows their lives to continue, but that also creates growth in our own lives. In this way, life never truly ends, but instead evolves continuously.
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