The hearts are back. I noticed them starting up about 10 days ago. Rocks, cow patties, a large drop of water on the bottom of a cup. I had begun to think that they weren't going to show themselves in India, that the symbology of this land would be different. Who knows, maybe the planet was using other words and I wasn't listening so it decided to speak my language.
I haven't been taking pictures, except the one above. The hearts have been coming so fast now that I'd find walking anywhere difficult if I was stopping to document the hearts along the way. They actually started up right after Calcutta and my weekend with Martin, which I'd begun to imagine was a sign of things to come in that department. But since he has moved on, I'll have to trust the hearts are up to something else, up to sending me a message I'll figure out sometime down the road.
My last post brought such love and support from friends far and wide, many of whom reassured me that my mope-fest was looking like a global phenomenon. Misery loves company, and I did find it soothing to know that I was not alone. It is yet another sign that some energy links all us crazy humans, animals, the planet itself.
When I got up an hour ago, I went to check my email and found that gmail had decided to bar the door. While I paid the gate-keeper with my secret password I was overcome with a deep fear that something bad awaited on the other side. Sure enough, there was an email at the top of my queue from my dear friend Margaret telling me that another friend, an actor named Mark Chamberlin, had quite unexpectedly passed away. As I understand it, he was in a bike accident on Sunday, but was well enough to be slated for release to recover at home, then he took a turn for the ultimate worst. I want to write more on this later, when I am not in shock, when so many people are not reeling from the sudden loss of this dynamic, healthy, sometimes difficult, often charming, and quixotically sweet man.
In the meantime, I want to honor the hearts, the connective tissues that weave us all together. I want to shine light on the subtle signals the Earth throws in our path, the messages that our deepest, intuitive gut-senses whisper to us in a steady stream. I feel certain that if I keep an eye and an ear out I will discover that there is a thread here in India that when I pull it, tugs at your heart or mind. I am sure that when you speak into the cosmic tin-can hidden in plain sight in your neck of the woods, that I will hear you all the way over here.
Maybe, eventually, we might also be able to read the signs, to understand what they mean and where they want us to go. Today, I simply take comfort in noticing them and trusting that establishing contact is enough for the time being.
