Everyman's Journal 2011

Everyman's Journal 2011, #17

January 20

Jumping into the frying pan for a few days, I am hosting a karma-completing visit from Sarah, a powerful charismatic woman twenty years my junior and my last 'significant' relationship, which had a turbulent, deeply bonding 'live-with' stage of about 5 years, ending about three years ago. We haven't seen each other for 14 months, and as always, a lot has happened in both our lives.... she's been living in NYC and facing the challenges of what it is going to take for her passion for writing to reach commercial fruition, and I, well, I have been writing about I, haven't I?

Part of what is interesting about our karma is that there are always many parallels, some which keep us connected, some which tell us that even though we are still connected, we have separate destinies. For instance, I came here to Yuma with the thought to serve my parents in their twilight years, and complete with my father (in particular) before he died. Sarah moved from Oregon to NYC in part to be closer to her mother, who now has 'something like dementia', and lives institutionally. When we were living together, both of us could see our individual family situations developing, and could see that to respond to them as our heart was guiding us would mean major changes for 'us'. That always made us sad.... we often hugged each other for long periods of time to move on...

BUT, in all honesty, there was a lot that was 'not working' too, and both of us knew it, and knew that while not being together would be painful, it would also be a relief too. Terry Gorski, a wonderful author and speaker on the subject of functional vs. dysfunctional relationships says of the dysfunctional relationship that: "you're together until it hurts so much you can't stand it, then you're alone till it hurts so much you can't stand it".

Our karma was to become indispensable to each other, so that even after we were officially uncoupled and living at a distance and independently, we have always stayed in communication, talking about what we were each experiencing as singles, and comparing that to what we had had together. We did this because even though at times we hated each other, under that in our hearts we have always been the best of friends... or more. It's been difficult to tell, honestly. Anyway, even though we each can imagine being mated more harmoniously to other people, we've never been able to imagine each other not being in our lives. That led us into some very interesting conversations during our time--- exploring alternative relationship plurality forms, polyamory, etc. In the end, for me, it was all talk, but Sarah, being younger, has explored further... particularly in New York , and after checking to see if I have space to hear of her adventures, shares with me like a 9 year old at a slumber party all about them. I then process whatever comes up for me with her, and we discover both ourselves and each other more deeply.

Back when her company booked her to do one of the mental health training workshops (that she is national respected for) in San Diego next week, we talked about whether or not it was a good idea to use the opportunity to see each other, or not. Obviously, we chose to, as all the benefits of that were put on the table. So I went to Phoenix on Monday with a trailer load of paintings, and a list of things to do, one of which was meet Sarah at the airport, do a couple of days of business and social stuff in Phoenix, come to Yuma so she could check-in with my Mom for a couple days, and then, I drive her over to San Diego to the hotel where she will work next week.

You noticed there was no Everyman's Journal for a couple of days? It doesn't mean anything. It especially doesn't mean that there are no spiritual lessons being delivered my way worth sharing with you. It probably means the opposite: the frying pan wass too hot to get around to writing :-).

Still, now back home, integrity requests I report. Hence the above. Also, to briefly mention that one of the events we have been sharing is the fact that I had a major dental surgery Tuesday, extracting a root-canal-containing tooth that was beginning to abscess, and then discovering the necessity of extensive and invasive bone graft surgery. As my dentist said, "No fun for David, no fun for the dentist either'". So my gums have been cut and peeled back to expose the skull bone, and after removal of a lot of infected/rotten bone and the placement of the graft material, my gums were stretched over all of it and stitched in many places to hold it all back together. The shock to my body and the soreness and swelling have made the last 24 hours rather uncomfortable, but my healing is proceeding rapidly. That's why no Journal.

While this is more of a report than a spiritual commentary, I share it because it is what I have in this moment to share. If it speaks to you, I thank you for letting me know. And I promise to write God again soon. :-)

Blessings and Peace.

Namaste,

David

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My partnership request.... Please consider yourself an important gateway this message is passing through on its way to others. Please do 'send it on'. Thank you.

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Rev. David Seacord

Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag

david@davidseacord.com

www.davidseacord.com

(my fine art website)

www.davidseacord-everymansjournal.blogspot.com

(archived writings and poetry, circa 2002 to 2004)

www.davidseacord-acimcommentaries.blogspot.com

(archived 2010 writings on the lessons of A Course in Miracles)

www.everymansjournal2011.blogspot.com

(archived entries of this years Everyman's Journal)