Most of my writings are a result of long periods of reflection allowing my thoughts to marinate and become juicier. This one however is powerfully raw and fresh. The kind of experience that launches you into another dimension. Some very nice down to earth folks were next to us the past several days, the kind of people you love to have as neighbors. What I didn’t know until the day before they departed is they have their 27-year-old adult child camping with them. I didn’t ask them what his official mental diagnosis is. If I was to guess, I would say down-syndrome, but I’m no expert. All I know is that when I met T and looked into his eyes I saw caution, or was it fear! Something inside me just wanted to go hug him and tell him he’s safe, that I’ve got his back. Instead I couldn’t tell you what words were exchanged between us and doesn’t matter. What matters is what I felt. When I woke up around 3 am the following morning after meeting T, the message was loud and boisterous, “The Peace Chair Seed #16 is to be offered as a gift to the young man I’d met the previous day. Later that morning, T’s mom was outside packing up preparing for their departure and so I asked her if I could have a talk with her son. She looked at me very skeptically and said, “T doesn’t talk much, especially when Mom is around!”. “Well”, I said. “That’s OK, he can just listen if he wants, I like to tell stories. What I really want to do more than say, is to gift him that chair over there, if that would be OK with you and your husband.” It appeared I caught Mom a bit off guard, but she finally nodded her head, OK. She told me it was his birthday soon and that he constantly reminds her of this fact. I said, “how perfect is that?” I shared with T all my Dreams about what the chair represents for the world and he just grinned from ear to ear and listened. He’s a great listener. I told him the story about his chair, how well traveled it is and where the wood came from. I showed he and his Dad how to properly fold it up in travel mode, how to set it up to sit and how to adjust it to a hill side setting. I also showed them how to untangle the straps, not IF, but when they get tangled. T agreed to the following Chairtakers Pledge. “I agree to take good care of the chair and share it with others”, then instead of shaking hands, T and I fist bumped on it to make it official! But we had not yet performed the Chair Naming Ceremony and so I ask T if had any thoughts about that. “I don’t know,” he said. I jokingly told him that’s a funny name. After the laughs subsided, I asked him again and he said, “Holy Grail”. Silence ascended upon us all. Yes, I was speechless! The family requested to remain anonymous and so I honor their request and hope others respect their wishes as well. My wish is that one day in the future, I’ll meet T again and he can share some more of his stories with me, he’s a good story teller. How do I know this? I’m a good listener too. Something told me that his Mom was a bit surprised at how much T talked with me. I don’t know what his normal is, in reference to talking or being, but to me, he is perfect just the way he is. I’m Flowing over! x>
Nature's G.A.S. Station 