Time Out, Time Away, Time---

Judith Ashley is the author of The Sacred Women's Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual traditions that nurture the soul.

The month of March was challenging in a new way. For the past fourteen years it has been challenging because it is the month where my Dad (1998) Mom (2002) and younger brother (2004) died. I was half way through March this year before that even registered. Why?

Virus and then bacterial infections.

Yep, March was The Month of Illness. I’m not someone who does ‘illness’ well and by the end of the month I was so “sick and tired” of being sick and tired (viruses generally sap all my energy and the one(s) I had in March were no exception.

I’d also planned for over a year, to not only attend the Desert Dreams Writer’s Conference but to extend my time in Arizona. By March I already had my airline tickets and my hotel reservation for the conference (I’d registered for the conference last year).

What to do? Both of my eyes were red and watery from a bacterial eye infection, my left ear was plugged – still, my sinuses were Not my friend and I hadn’t written a single word since March 2^nd when I started to feel sick.

In the end I decided to go. One of those “I can feel miserable there as well as here” and the additional “Maybe a new place will help and everything allergy related will disappear.”

Maybe not an ocean of water flowing around me but close!

So, after flooding my dining room (literally the plants were overflowing onto the floor where the water took on a life of its own and ran (no, it didn’t trickle – nowhere near trickle) under furniture. Of course I’m supposed to be on my way to the airport when this all happens!!!

Take a deep breath --- well, take several of them.

I’m now in Arizona at my friend’s house. After hauling my suitcases in and getting my ‘scorpion relocation kit and instructions’ (that's another blog post) we head to the store (Sprouts). Once back at the house, I drop an 8 pound bag of ice that breaks open and springs across the floor (from wall to wall and under everything in between). To tell the truth, I was so stunned I just stood there with my mouth hanging open while my friend scrambled to round up the scattered ice. I won’t bore you with my other ‘water adventures’ while in Arizona but there were others.

Since I believe things happen in our lives for a reason, especially if it is something that happens over and over. All that water flowing around me? I was scrambling to figure out what that meant!!!

Water is critical for us to survive. We can actually go without food better than we can without water.

Water is used to clean, to wash ourselves and our belongings.

Water has a spiritual connotation. Think Holy Water, baptism and also in my tradition, sacred wells.

And then all major religions have a story about a Great Flood!

Being in Arizona, water is especially critical so I always had my water bottle with me (of course it broke the first week I was there). Taking time to think about the spiritual aspect of water was helpful. I’d not been involved with my daily spiritual practice since early March when I became sick – that changed!

Time out—I’d originally thought this would be a great time to write. I’d called it a “Writing Retreat”. In actuality, I never even got my laptop out of the case. And, I never wrote anything on my current WIP Sophia.

Time away—Time Away from the rigors of my everyday life. My time in Arizona became a retreat from my everyday life. No television at all for two full weeks and then some. Two short stints on my friend’s desktop computer to check Desert Rose Chapter Meeting and then return flight and print out my boarding pass.

Time—To gain perspective, to reconnect with myself and where I want my life to go.

Time out, Time away—Time.

Since returning home, I’ve had a couple of ‘water events’. The most recent was yesterday when not only did a plant I was watering overflow, but I dropped another bottle of water that splashed and flowed—reaching for my laptop and briefcase which I narrowly rescued. Dripping into a pair of shoes (saved the laptop and briefcase, not the shoes).

Do you ever have some kind of minor (in the relative scheme of things that is) disaster that happens again and again? What do you do when that happens? (You can see I don't believe I'm the only one this kind of thing happens to).

You can learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series on my website.

Check out my Windtree Press author page.

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© 2016 Judith Ashley