The day the world stopped, it snowed almost three feet.
I remember feeling a sort of a panic immediately setting in, like being on a packed plane with a screaming baby next to you and the air conditioning broken. Nowhere to run. A proverbial game of musical chairs, the music stopped and I looked around, embarrassed that I felt shunned, frightened and alone. The extreme reality was that no one was coming and there was nowhere to run to. I wanted to reach out for something or someone, that was impossible to touch. If you went through these beginning days of the pandemic alone, you know all too well what I am talking about. Even if you were in a house full of people I’m sure you know as well.
So I got the snow shovel out and began to dig. Both literally and figuratively. Shoveling around my Airstream sitting in the driveway with its three foot cap of snow, I wondered, “why haven’t I gotten on the road with this dream of mine that began over 10 years ago to share the gospel that art saves?”
Why have I postponed, deferred, and ignored the greatest calling of my life?
My laugh out loud dream sat on the driveway mocking me, all iced over and foreboding. As the days wore on like years, the chaos began to give way to curious. That abrupt and harsh reality took me on a journey. We have been forced to literally stop and go through our lives and rethink everything. As I hiked and hiked and listened to the silence off the woods, not even a plane overhead, I began to sit with these hard feelings. You might say we all had a chance to reconnect with our souls calling and longing.
Then it hit me---someone is coming….it was my Sweet Bird family! That we are all interconnected. That we are NOT alone! That the Airstream was the symbol that propelled me into living with peace and contentment next to that screaming baby! That this is the year that woke us up! As Tama Kieves says, “Your desires are doorways”. Mine just happens to have an aluminum one. We are in a transformation, to create a world that maybe we’ve envisioned, but have yet to put ‘skin’ into the game.
The force of our souls are calling! The road is calling!
What this time has taught me most of all, is that we are all connected. When things break down we need to find each other in order to find order.
You are invited along on the journey, setting our lives on fire with true intention, creativity and community. The Silver Savior, my Airstream, is leaving its wooded harbor to meet you all! To connect, inspire and create art, sharing stories of how we get through this time and where we go from here. To slow down and have wonderful conversations with each other. One speck of bread crumbs will lead to the next and the next.
We will figure this out, one mile at a time.
Windows Rolled Down,
Nancy + Team Sweetbird