Transitions within Transitions

Wow - I didn't know it would be this long before I wrote again. We've had some problems getting me connected to the internet and my brain is full of thoughts.

I'll work on a few here.

I really am fascinated with the subject of transition. This is not a new thought subject. This has been going on for a few years. It's just that my whole life has been so much about going from one place to another. Even before I knew there was such a word I was making geographical transitions with my family. In other words we moved a lot. Geographical transitions trigger mental, emotional and spiritual transitions. Relationships change. I do think that to really get the good out of any such time of change it helps if you are truly engaged in the process. I only started being really engaged in the process these last few years. Much better. I also went through a many years period of resisting - even fighting against - transition. Yes, it is definitely better to be engaged.

Last week is a good example for me. I'll see if I can convey in words what I was feeling. I've described in a previous post how transition is like being on a bridge. As you are crossing the bridge you are aware of life all around you, but you can't really touch that life because you are crossing the bridge.

On Saturday of last week we, my husband and I, arrived in Dallas. My geographical transition is halfway complete as I'm living with my daughter while I wait for my husband to join me and we get settled in a house. My husband stayed in Dallas all last week. We did things together. We met with friends, we searched out a neighborhood where we would like to live. Worked through some issues around that. We studied maps, Larry worked on Shannon's house. We even took a trip to San Antonio and Austin to visit friends and family. One of those very enjoyable whirlwinds.

Yes, it was fun, like being on vacation, but in the back of my mind I was thinking about the things that I need to do to get established here. Most of all my purpose right now is to find my job, my place in the working world. Next priority is to house shop and to set up a house shopping trip with Larry. These thoughts hung out in my mind and other than squeaking in a trip to a staffing agency on Wednesday there was nothing I could do with them. They were to me the life that I could see as I was on the bridge. I felt the reality of that all week. I landed on the other side of the bridge Sunday evening after my husband left to return to KC.

Wow again.

It was really interesting to experience this with a mind, heart and spirit fully engaged. It really illustrated to me the principle of the transition within the transition - probably a good description of what our lives are like. Changes and changes within changes.

This particular transition really began in Aug/Sept of 2004 when we realized that we would go home at some point and going home would mean moving to Dallas. There was still life to live in Kansas City but always in the back of our minds (OK sometimes the front) was the knowledge that we would go home. We could see it but not touch it. We decided in February that we would definitely move back to Dallas and that I would come ahead and find my job. That is a transition inside a larger transition. Then last week was a transition inside of that transition.

I guess this particular transition will end when we purchase a house and I think that then I will begin to see the larger transition that this fits within.

Wow again. I actually feel a bit of a rush as I write this like maybe I'm coming down the down slope of the bridge kinda fast.