your moment(s) of zen.

years ago i was moving from one place to another, 'back home' really. as if that place actually existed, but that's a story for another day.

so i was leaving the desert southwest to go 'back home.' and the day before i left a friend, with whom i had laboriously forged a tenuous and somewhat difficult friendship, placed a wonderfully beautiful pendant in my palm and closed both our sets of hands around it and said

"i want you to have this. but whatever you do, do NOT lose it or i will be really upset."

and i held on to that pendant for the drive halfway back across country to the first place i thought was 'back home.' and i held on to that pendant for the short drive to the next city that was the second place i thought could be my new 'back home.' and when both of those didn't work out i drove two states north to the place that had become 'back home.'

and then i stopped driving.

and when i came to the first big body of water, which just happened to be the puget sound, i tossed the wonderfully beautiful pendant in with many blessings, good wishes, and good riddance.

and with the knowledge that i will never lose it because i know exactly where it is.

which brings me to this installment of your moment(s) of zen.

there are a million ways not to lose something. a million ways to hang on.

and a million ways to let go.

x.