I haven't written much lately as I have been getting ready to move after Thanksgiving. It hasn't been altogether that difficult however, because I had started the process of purging after my son left for college. My empty nest syndrome manifested in a psychotic obsessive need to get rid of everything I haven't been using. I went through closets, tossing Easter cards from the 80's along with other useless articles. I purged old files, burning tax returns and bills that had long since been paid off. I donated clothes and left extra furniture on the side of the room for passersby. The payoff for this fall cleaning is a simpler move for me. And so I enter another transition period. This time I am allowing God to help. Although I love the apartment I am in, I have been lead to my new living quarters, which are closer to my partner. This seems like a big step for me, I am feeling a wee bit tender although I usually don't have a problem forging ahead in relationship. That is my problem, forging ahead, a sort of compulsive doing. I am either full steam ahead or crashed on the couch. This relationship has been growing steadily for the past five years. So it now keeps growing. This morning a great blue heron flew over the road in front of me, landing in the adjoining woods. I caught his picture standing there and watched for minutes as he just was, turning his head from time to time, I am sure wondering what that blue hunk of steel was beside the guardrail. I soon became impatient with our meditation and got out of the car to try to get a better look (and picture.) Needless to say he flew away. There is a time for everything, a time to move, a time to sit and pray. What becomes of this process when I am patient with God, when I move when it is time instead of forging ahead? The results are miraculous. I will be leaving one beautiful home on a nature preserve and moving into a more beautiful home with views of the Berkshire Hills, in close proximity to my loved ones. Today I am moving toward instead of away from. And that type of movement is best done slowly. I am not running today, forging ahead. Because when I slow down I have the space to see the heron, sitting by the side of the road.