hello, pippin

We got back from Hilton Head yesterday afternoon. For a few reasons I won’t go into, it was not the soul-cleansing experience that trips to HH typically are for me. Many fine things did occur, don’t get me wrong: I had a stare-down with a bald eagle... I let my sister-in-law drag me out on a couple of runs, and a yoga class, that I probably wouldn’t have managed on my own... Late night conversations in the hot tub: always great... Convincing my mom to come out to the deck late one night to watch the full moon make the waves dance…

But completely spiritually renewed, cleansed, re-focused, and inspired? Nope. Not a bit. In fact, I came home extra, super-duper cranky.

Typically after I’ve gone out of town for a little while, I tend to not want to leave the house (if at all possible) for a few days, so that I can let myself re-root. But today was Reiki-at-the-hospital day, and I made myself get up and out the door before I could rationalize why I shouldn’t go. On the drive over, through the irritating and completely uncalled-for rain, I reminded myself that that great thing about Reiki is, it works, whether or not you are Spiritually At One With The Universe. Reiki is about allowing. About saying “yes”, and then letting go.

Why I wasn’t able to surrender to that mindset while my bad attitude was developing like a storm cloud all week on Hilton Head? Um, I’m not sure. And I think the super-duper aspect of my crankiness was about that very issue: me, beating myself up, for being a moron.

Anyways, I got to the hospital this morning, and learned that there would be no patients arriving until…two hours later. A change of schedule, blah blah blah. Fortunately, this meant that I could give Reiki to the nurses, who were otherwise occupied with administrivia. They were psyched.

And then I stole this teddy bear out of the basket created for the children of chemotherapy patients.

That’s right, I took a teddy bear away from a child.

Can you blame me? It was hermetically sealed in a plastic bag – suffocating! – and it had been there for months, hoping to be rescued. Plus, it was wearing a ridiculous felt collar meant to look like daffodil petals. The indignity! Not until I sprung it loose did I see that it had a tattoo on its foot – of flowers. I figured this was a love affair that’s meant to be.

The afternoon patients started rolling in, and I gave a treatment to a woman who came in completely tight, anxious, in pain, and distracted. By the time we were through, she was literally asleep, drooling.

On my way home, the bear told me its name was Pippin. Maggie and Charlie have made his acquaintance, as has Kevin. But most importantly, I need to introduce Pippin to his cousin, Smidge.

Smidge is well traveled. He’s been to Hilton Head loads of times, of course, but more impressively, he went on a cross-country road trip with his mom (my sister) and me a few years ago.

Smidge at the Corn Palace in South Dakota.

Smidge in the Badlands.

Did I mention it’s raining? Sigh. At least I have a teddy bear to console me.