Door, Open and Waiting

Elizabeth Lesser and Artwork by Dan-ah-Kim

"The great loneliness, like the loneliness a caterpillar endures when she wraps herself in a silky shroud and begins the long transformation from chrysalis to butterfly.  It seems that we too must go through such a time, when life as we have known it is over _ when being a caterpillar feels somehow false and yet we don't know who we are supposed to become.  All we know is that something bigger is calling us to change.  And though we must make the journey alone, and even if suffering is our only companion, soon enough we will become a butterfly, soon enough we will taste the rapture of being alive."  

Part of life as I have known it has gently closed, and as I turned away, I found a door open and waiting.   The thorns and prickles have fallen away with loneliness and it has been replaced by  simply being alone. In winter's hibernation, I embrace the idea of stitching my wings, preparing
for flight at the onset of spring, no longer  tethered to silent criticism.   I must admit to not being comfortable with the lack of knowing what I shall become, but with all of my senses
I am alive and awake!