When someone deeply listens to you
It is like holding out a dented cup
You've had since childhood
And watching it fill up with
Cold, fresh water.
When it balances on top of the brim,
You are understood.
When it overflows and touches your skin,
You are loved.
When someone deeply listens to you
Your bare feet are on the earth
And a beloved land that seemed distant
Is now at hand.
--John Fox
This poem is so appealing. The longing to be understood and seen - we all share that. We all share that need to really see deeply also. To transform our life from ordinary to meaningful. Hey, it pleases me no end when I find something on a blog or in a book that helps me to see connection in all the world to the simple and sometimes tedious tasks that are common to our lives. How about the laundry task for one....
sunny day
laundry collected
wash
line dry
birds and breeze
alone in thought
gather in
smell
fold
night time
exhaustion
turned down bed
ease between cool sheets
feel of fresh
scent of earth
peaceful slumber
The most over used appliance in our modern world, in my over wrought opinion, is the clothes dryer. I am an advocate of line drying under the bleaching aid of the sun and the drying agent of the breeze. But there is deeper meaning and value for me in quelling the impulse to throw the laundry from the washing machine into the dryer. Piling my laundry basket high with whites and escaping over the grass to the clothes line becomes MY time. Organizing, ordering and hanging my wash to dry is a creative task – an art form. Socks are pinned together here, sheets there, and under-garments are privately tucked away on the inside line.
Hanging clothes is the ultimate nature experience. The smell of newly washed laundry mingling with fresh outside air is a sensory high. Sun warms your skin. Listen closely and you hear the cooing of the Morning Dove or the chirping of the Chick-e-dee-dee-dee. Insects buzz around you A cob web has formed in the corner of the line. It is a oneness – a belonging in the middle of natural earth where Mother Nature once again works with us.
The reflective nature of the “hanging clothes” chore is probably the most profound for me. As I fulfill this pleasant labor, I always feel closeness to the women of my past. I think of the countless generations of women who have done this before. But often, I remember my mother. I think of her outside in most any weather humming to herself, making order in her laundry while the children inside wreak havoc. I can almost climb into her skin and feel for a moment that I am her and she is me. We are bonded together as mother and daughter and the space of time and place dissolves.
Hanging clothes is a simple act of womanly duty. Here is peace and order amid hectic lives and connection between our generations.
found on http://sugarcityjournal.blogspot.com/
I feel loads of gratitude to people who have clear and clean perspective and have the patience to set it down in color for the rest of us to contemplate. I have a lot of laundry to do today. We have sun, and a amish-made wooden clothes horse to dry our clothes on. I will think of it in a new way today. I hope that you have sun and someone to listen to today. (smile)
the sleeves have a reasonable edge (maybe lacking elasticity) but I feel OK about them (yay)
the sleeves have a reasonable edge (maybe lacking elasticity) but I feel OK about them (yay)
sewing the sleeves in - is another story. Have you ever been almost done with a project and wanted to bail out at the last turn? Yikes!! so much has gone into this thing. I want to get it to look right - be beautiful even, not just for me but for my growing girl too. Self imposed pressure. I know! I always hope that these physical things teach us to 'smooth' the connections, sew in the trailing threads or beautify our personal interactions as well.
