GOT SILK?

GOT SILK??

I’ve been thinking about parachutes! (Don’t ask me why – who knows with a mind like mine!!) Did you know that when parachutes were first invented they were made from silk? Think about those beautiful silk parachutes – as soft as lingerie…all billowed out above the glider like some gigantic silken mushroom. During WWII silk was one of the “rationed” items in American life so women had to go without stockings. I remember my mother telling me that women used to paint brown lines up the back of their legs to mimic the seams in stockings so that it looked like they had stockings on! Funny!

Today the term “parachute” is a metaphor for more than that skydiving apparatus. To have a “golden parachute” mean that you are leaving your job with some pretty amazing benefits. We also think about the parachute image when we talk about taking enormous risks in life – or being in a life situation that feels, frankly, like a “free fall”.

I’ve been dreaming about parachuting lately. Not that I would ever actually jump out of a plane! Not unless it was safely on the ground would I ever consider such a thing! I’m a chicken, through and through (with my apologies to all my barnyard friends.) I like my adventures well planned and my risk-taking completely thought-out. I like surprises to be gently hinted at so that I’m not “surprised”!! For those of you who were around at Christmas when my two adult children and their off-spring decided to descend on me without warning for a week, you know how I was both delighted – and appalled!! I LOVED being with them, having the children near me, hearing them, seeing them, even smelling them!! But I was nearly deranged about not having enough groceries in the house – or sheets and towels! At one time I had an extra 11 people in my house and not having enough places to sit to eat meant bringing lawn chairs and patio furniture into the dining room. As much as it all “worked” I felt like I needed a parachute from time to time to break my fall into utter chaos!!

Do you know that if you check out the internet for “parachute” references you will find instructions on how to survive a “free-fall”! YIKES! That’s enough to scare me out of skydiving altogether – but I’ve been thinking about all of this and wondering what message my mind/spirit is trying to give me.

Perhaps it’s “Loosen up Nancy”. Let the good times roll (and the bad times too). Trust the silk above you and begin to enjoy the view! You CAN survive a free-fall – but it appears that, at least today and in this moment, you have a wonderful, full-blown protective covering over your head – so quiet your stuttering heart and take a deep breath and glide down to wherever you land.”

That’s my message for all of my “readers” this month.
Got silk?