an entry about swooping.

Things in life sometimes seem to move in a swooping motion. You think things are going along smoothly and you are walking along, confident, and then that one piece of news comes swooping in on you from somewhere beyond the bounds of your imagination, ruining on its way all of your hard work and plans.

Then you think, act normal, don't let anyone see how this is effecting you. You think, there's no way that I can pull this off, no way to hide this anger and frustration in my daily routine, no way that they can't hear it in my voice. You think, there's just no way that I can force myself back to the way I was.

But you would think wrong. It's surprisingly easy to fake it, to plaster on that smile and just move on, regardless of the smoldering embers of anger inside. Make conversation now, do this now, do that in a minute, walk like this, smile like this. It's almost like a dance.



And then there is the time swoop. Suddenly you look at your calendar and see that you don't have as much time as you think you do and you have everything in the world to accomplish. And your advising professor swoops in on you in the hall out of nowhere asking to see you in his office so he can critique what you have so far. Which isn't much.



The paths we walk in life are naturally not going to be easy going all the way, paved with sunshine and lined with fountains. Things are hard enough without the dangers that swoop down on you from another plane, the first one knocking you sideways, the next one knocking you backwards.

But just as I start to lose my balance, in comes another swooper from the clear blue somewhere, swooping in to snatch me up just before I fall. He covers me with love and gives me hope and makes me laugh and offers simple encouragement, and that is all I need to keep going.








*The image of Dancer Veronica Tennant is used with the permission of the National Arts Centre in Canada via www.ArtsAlive.ca. Isn't she beautiful?