May 4, 2008

It’s a quiet Sunday morning and I’m sitting outside at a table writing this. And how about the magic and the mystery of this moment! Here I am, making these marks on a sheet of paper that you will read sometime in the future and give meaning to. I feel your presence as I write this, and you’ll feel my presence as you read it. I remind myself daily that everything is in order and that this very moment is a miracle, as is everything around me.

The warm sun is shining. The birds are singing. All is well. An old saying comes to mind…
“Sitting quietly, doing nothing
Spring comes and the grass grows.”

There have been many times when I’ve tried to “push the river” and force things to happen before they were ready to germinate. I’m still learning to “go with the flow.”

I’m reminded that you can’t pry the petals of a flower open, but you can provide the flower with healthy soil and plenty of sunlight and water. Then, when the petals do blossom, they will unfold in just the right way and time, and the flower will be an expression of beauty and grace.

It’s hard to believe how quickly time is passing – even here in prison.  I’ve heard that it takes about ten years to get used to how old you are. Well, I think it takes longer than that. I’m still not used to my age. There’s a little boy in me who keeps asking, “What happened?” He’s the part of me that still looks at life with awe and wonder, the part that creates a dog named Ralphie who tells bad puns, the part that loves to sing and dance and play.

In fact, that part of me is acting up right now as I feel a tug on my pant leg. It’s Ralphie and his insisting on telling us something. I know I shouldn’t do this, but I’m going to humor the little fellow.

“Ralphie, what is it?”

“Do you remember the story I told you about the WING and the WONG families? Although there are many people in China, there are few telephones. The reason for this is because there are so many people with the names WING and WONG and the authorities are afraid they’ll WING the WONG number.”

“How could we forget that, Ralphie? It’s awful.”

“Well, I have some news about the WONG family. Something very unusual has happened to them. Mr. and Mrs. WONG have had a Caucasian baby and we all know that two WONGS don’t make a white.”

“What’s the baby’s name, Ralphie?”

“They have named him “SUM TING WONG.”

When Ralphie tells those Chinese puns, I get disoriented. As you can see, he has no shame.

It’s hard to follow him with anything sensible, so I’m not going to try.

Sending you love and blessings!