Welcome to Wonder

Tuesday, September 09

I started my walk to an art store and then onto Shakespeare and Co –  but – a side street called my name. My thought; here is a “life whisper” inviting me to something new. And, I am so glad I listened!  A whisper to something out of the ordinary, it can be so subtle. It almost feels like a tender breeze. When I am open to really being – I feel it, I am it.  Time and space begin to navigate my “sail”. I know it sounds a little wacky, and yet I know you know what I mean.  Like the time you decided to say something to someone you didn’t even know, and before you know it connections were made, those six degrees of separation closed in!  Or the time you thought of someone, picked up the phone and called;  and they said, “my goodness, I was just thinking about you too!’ Coincidence or a whisper?  Perhaps a connection to something bigger than you or me? In those times, you and I listened to the whisper.

And so, this avenue, led to a side street, which took me into a walkway, which led me to an alleyway which opened a door!  More on that door in a bit.  This alley way….it’s not what we think of in America – a dark, scary place where homeless people hide next to garbage bins and broken bottles with the smell of urine and shattered dreams. Here in Paris, an alley way is a beautifully paved walkway with squarish chunks of cobblestone leading to small cafes with chairs and tables outside on an uneven path. This space beckons people to sit and have a moment.  There are little small book stores, and hand made leather artists, clothing stores and art galleries.  The noise here of the busy main streets fade, and a profound silence appears.  Conversations surround me and and yet they are muffled and set adrift into another time. Something hovers in this space, something I’m not sure I can capture or see.  As though previous store keepers, cafe and bar owners move gently through us. Shadows dancing on memories, preserving and absorbing me and it’s other visitors.

Ahhh the door…….As I wend my way through this space, I realize, I’ve been here before!  Eight years ago we walked this same alleyway as a family!  I notice the leather shop where we bought our journals, carved and cut by the shop owner himself!  

I so wanted to get back to this street ever since I arrived in Paris, and it was the whisper’s breeze that walked me here today!  Just like that. I surfaced back onto a main street, to another familiar part of town.  A place I had come to on my own, and with family, many times before, and yet today, this walk came from a totally different direction!  It literally opened up a whole new map in my brain. Suddenly I realized I could get anywhere, from anywhere.  In other words, I didn’t really need a city map anymore!

I am stunned with joy!

Take a side street today and find something new!