Launching…One Moment @ a Time

Ultimately every launch is an end.  An end to a beginning.  A transition of parts.  A letting go.  A sending. A parting. A farewell.  A permission to go.  A new chapter.  A commitment, an essence, a moving on.  To the next chapter.  To continuing.  To allowing life to lead us on.

It is saying I have something to say that is worth saying.  It may not be for everyone.  It may be for a small group of people.  But somewhere out there someone will find in my expression a spring of hope, some sense of freedom, beauty and even truth.

That is the point at the end of the whole thing, the reason we bother releasing.

Poetry, or the arts, may seem like a luxury for the rich, or those with leisure time.  That may feel true, till something tragic happens, or something spectacular, and we desperately need someone to capture and make sense of the experience.  Then poetry becomes an essential substance.   

We let go to hold on.  We release to continue to grow.  If we hold on we can continue to grow, for we will run out of room.  We will get too heavy.  There will be nothing left for us to carry.  Our capacity will be gone.  Release, and ake room.  Release, and be ready for more to carry.

Later.

For now, recall the process of what it took to get you to this point.  Don’t get all sentimental.  Just remember where you were a year ago.  Two years ago.  Think of the journey.  The key decisions along the way.  Think of how many times you could have derailed.

But you didn’t (…even if it felt like you totally did).

Launching is not the end of the story.  It is the beginning of another one.  It is the beginning.  Certainly it took a great deal to get you to this point.  Celebrate that!  Just don’t stop.  Don’t sabotage the energy of this release.  Let it go.  Let it grow.  Enjoy each step of the ride!

One last thing: caring for an infant is absolutely exhausting.  They know not (nor care not) for your sleep habits, your work load, your to do list.  They care only that they are fed, and safe, and fed again, and clean.  Infants are incredulously selfish.  Caring for them, exhausting.

But…absolutely and profoundly worth it.

Addendum:

*If every end is a beginning there is always a loophole.  There is always a cliff-hanger at the end of every episode.  Our life is really like a well-written show that leaves you cravng to see the next episode.  Everything connects.  Everything unravels, and ravels back again.  But how?

That is the great tragedy of life.  We can’t tie all the loose ends together.  We can’t get everything to fit into one piece.  We can’t hold it all together.  And the more we try, the more we crack.  We can’t keep the moments.  We have to let them go and move into the next ones.

We must.  And we move to the next one with a posture of gratitude.  Of recognition.  Of deliberate thanks.  We did it.  And if we did it once, we can do it again.  And again.  And again.  And that is the point of celebrating.  Of paying attention to the moments.  We CAN do it!

If we do it one moment at a time.