JUNE 19, 2006

Today, June 19th, 2006, Mom would have been 59 years old. But time and years and ages are not a concern where she lives "today". As she now exists – eternally ALIVE – every day is her birthday.

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A couple of noteworthy stories/communications surrounding the day of Mom's physical birth:

TODAY, I was visiting with my friend, Joanne, at her house. We were standing in the kitchen making sandwiches when the phone rang. Joanne decided to screen the call, so we waited to hear a voice over the (sort of "old school") answering machine (you know, as opposed to voice mail). At the tone, we heard a man's voice...He sang, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU (one week late), HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU..." (and so on). Turns out, it was Joanne and Alex's friend, Brian, calling to wish Joanne a happy birthday. The interesting thing is, (besides the fact that I happened to be standing in her kitchen at that moment), today is not Joanne's birthday. It is not even one week later than her birthday. Joanne's birthday is July 12. Brian got mixed up, and was thinking it was June 12, and hence, the "Happy Birthday...one week late".

A while later, I went outside with Joanne's daughter, Aurora, for a bit so that Joanne could finish up some chores she had been trying to do all morning. As I was sitting on the front step of the house, watching Aurora play, a little boy came riding up to us on his bike. I asked him his name. He said "Landon. I said, "How old are you, Landon?" He said, "five". I said, "When's your birthday?" Well, he didn't actually answer my question, but instead offered the bizarrely synchronistic information, "TODAY IS MY MOM'S BIRTHDAY". I was amazed. I then said, "Today is my mom's birthday too...What is your mom's name?" He said..."Mommy".

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The following story took place a few nights ago, on the 16th. But this one TRULY BLEW MY MIND...still does, and does even more every time I tell it:

Friday night, Micah and Shawn's band, Zebra Junction, had a really important gig. They played at the Fox Theater in Boulder, which is a big deal! I had been telling Micah for weeks that I was glad I was going to be in town for it, and definitely wanted to come.

When Shawn's wife, Patricia, and I arrived, we were happily surprised to find dear friends, Josh and Yuko! I had no idea they were going to be there, but was so glad they turned up!

The music was phenomenal. I welled up with pride and happiness for Micah and Shawn's progress and new accomplishments. They have so obviously evolved, and are doing really well. They have hooked up with an awesome bluegrass, "Rusted Root-Style" band called Oakhurst, who they have been touring and collaborating with for the last several months. I had several feelings whirling around within me, all good ones. All ones founded in LOVE. I felt love and pride for Micah. Love for my friends - especially Josh, who I am also extraordinarily proud of! In case you don't yet know, Josh is in the final runnings on the hit TV show, "Last Comic Standing"!! Anyway, I also felt love for HOME...for Colorado. And just a lot of JOY surrounding DANCING and MUSIC.

I had been wanting so badly to DANCE for months and months, since before I left for Hawaii in November. While there are a couple of clubs and DJs there, there is nothing like the Denver music scene - or that of any big city. I have so missed that about being in Colorado - and about being around Micah. Josh and I have always shared a love for dancing, too. We always used to dance together at college parties, then at parties at our house in Denver over the last several years. Our "thing" was always to have "jumping contests", which we would do to high-energy songs, in place of dancing. We tied the other night, agreeing that if neither of us had stopped jumping up and down by the time the music stopped, we would both win. And we did. That had never happened before!

At any rate, we were all having a blast, and I was feeling almost elated. I felt the absolutely tangible charge of MOM around me. I knew she was there, and not just "with me", or only for me. But with and for and IN ALL of us. I said to Josh at one point, "Guess who's here right now?" And he said, "Who?" And I said, "My MOM!". I told both Patricia and Micah the same thing at various times throughout the evening.

Meanwhile, as Josh, Yuko and I danced, we were joined by a handful of others on the floor. One woman in particular caught my attention. She was probably around sixty years old, but totally radiant; a glowing aura about her. She was dancing her heart out, and at certain particularly brilliant twists of sound, she would close her eyes and tilt her face upward, as if to praise God for life's deliciousness and utter beauty. She - of course - reminded me of Mom. She didn't look like her, but she FELT like her. She radiated the same kind of LOVE in her dance steps, and oozed joy from her every pore.

I mentioned this to Patricia, and told her that I would like to talk to this woman before we left, and tell her of the connection I felt with her on the dance floor. At that, I looked around, but saw no sign of the dancing woman. I figured she had left, and that I had missed my window of opportunity. But, I decided, if I saw her once more before leaving, I would take that as a sign that I was supposed to have my moment of communication with her. If not, then it wasn't meant to happen.

About an hour later, Patricia and I started shuffling up the ramp toward the exit sign. We were ready to leave the theater and head home. Just then, one and only one person faced us on the path to the door. It was her. We were face to face. I put my hands on her shoulders, looked into her eyes as if I had known her for eternity, and said, "You remind me of my Mom".

Without an ounce of pause, hesitation, or thought, the woman pulled me close to her, hugged me deeply, kissed me on the cheek, and said into my ear, "I AM YOUR MOM."

It was not "weird". It didn't feel "strange" or abnormal or uncomfortable or odd. I was literally in the arms of a "complete stranger"...yet she wasn't a stranger at all. She was a messenger, and I knew it. Furthermore, she knew it.

When we separated from this incredible embrace, I told her that My Mom had died a year and a half ago; and that she had loved to dance, and was joyful about it in the same way I could see that she (the woman) was.

Once again, she just stared into my eyes, and I into hers. We looked through lifetimes, and beyond the supposed barriers of "reality" and "illusion" that plague us in this physical world. She poured LOVE into me like a waterfall pours water into the land beneath it. She SPOKE on behalf of Mom. Or maybe more truly, MOM SPOKE THROUGH HER. She put her hands on my cheeks and said, "ANGEL...You're and ANGEL", and hugged me one more time.

We parted ways, both looking back at each other until to do so would cause a trip or fall. And that was that. We had had our moment, and we both understood what it meant, on some wordless, nameless, energetically divine level.

And I went to bed that night simply Thanking God...over and over and over again...for my deliciously blessed life.