In the quiet zone

Some friends asked me if I would like to spend this week at their house - partly to water their plants but also to give me an opportunity to be by myself. I know the dogs and cats are missing me but they'll be OK. So that was really nice of them. At first I thought I would just come a couple of nights at the first of the week and a couple of nights at the end of the week thinking I wouldn't need to carry so much that way but as I put it all together I realized that was kinda nuts because the biggest part of what I would have to carry back and forth -toiletries and stuff - was more than what I wouldn't have to carry. It wouldn't save me anything at all hardly. And add to that the fact that I decided to bring my dress clothes that needed ironing and really I had pretty much everything. So...of course I'm staying the whole week.

I knew it would be quiet here. I expected that. I've experienced this kind of quiet before. I don't know about anybody else but to me there is something different about the quiet that you find at times like this. It's like this also when we go to a hotel or someplace other than where we live our lives. It's quieter than when you're at home and you've turned off all the noise makers. To me it still seems...well, not noisy, but not totally quiet either.

So, of course, I've had to examine it to see what I could figure out about it and this is what I think. I would be interested in knowing what others think about this also.

I am one who believes that our interaction with each other goes beyond the physical. I believe that our souls and spirits are also interacting with each other. So I think of this in terms of conversations. A family lives in this house and no doubt they have conversations with each other. I'm sure some are fun and some are difficult and some are ongoing - just like pretty much every other family. But I am not a part of those conversations and when they left it's like they took their conversations with them.

When I am in my home or my daughter's home I am among those with whom I have conversation. Even when we aren't talking out loud the conversations we have going with each other are ongoing and I believe they live in the unseen places of our lives. It's something felt rather than heard. Maybe someone else staying in my home would find it quiet because they are not a part of our conversations.

I wonder.

At any rate I am enjoying this quietness here and am grateful to W & M for opening their house to me while they play and splash in the water and soak up some rays.