Freedom
Cresting the hill, I saw her and her golden fourleg companion before Henrietta did. I had time to distract and redirect my black fur ball before her awareness caught up to mine, but instead, with curiosity and a sense of You’ve got this, I chose full steam ahead.
You’re only trapped if you allow yourself to become entangled?
Full disclosure…she did ask about my Thanksgiving before her thought stream flowed from her mind right through her mouth, without pause or disruption by boulder or fallen limb.
Freedom?
Relationship has significance only when it is a process of self revelation.
~J. Krishnamurti
Imagine if you will, my five-year-old self dressed in yellow rain coat and hat, walking under Niagara Falls.
I listened as she flitted between the lives of her three children and spouse. She gave heavy emphasis to her son who started a job with a west coast tech company last June. The young man lives in a 275 square foot apartment—even though the company is located an hour’s commute away.
“The city is where the trendy restaurants and bars are—near the office—there are only chain restaurants,” she said. “The kid’s don’t want that. They want the big city amenities….so there are all these nondescript tech buses driving employees from the city to work—Google, Adobe, Eventbrite. The buses have bathrooms—and serve coffee and food! They can count their commute as work time…if they’re working.”
I found no space for questions…or, magical math.
Pulling my yellow rain hat over my ears for a moment, I wondered if the young man feels free. He’s left wide open spaces for a postcard apartment and commuting on a bus. He is away from his parent’s eyes, the expectations of the moral Midwest, and I hear he’s got more than a few spare coins rolling into his pockets.
Freedom?
An inside or outside job?
At black lab Ziggy’s English Tudor, I interrupted, “Henrietta and I are walking the long route today. If I don’t see you again before Christmas….happy wishes for time with your children at home!”
“Oh…okay. Wishing you the same!”
I walked on in silence thinking about what we choose for ourselves, and what popular culture chooses for us.
What does freedom mean to you?
Do you say no-thank you when what everyone else is having does not satisfy you?