I recently spent a few days with my daughter Claire, who came
for a visit from Orlando. Here for a week, the two of us went
‘exploring’ in the San Juan Islands region for a couple of days.
She had never been to the Pacific Northwest and marveled at the cool sunny weather, breaching Orcas, being up-close to snow-topped Mt. Baker, the endless deep forests, numerous waterfalls, crisp Rainier cherries and the general mojo of the environment.
Claire will be turning 24 next week and while we have had numerous short visits during her time at college, our outing up North was the first multi-day, just her-and-me time together in years.
No longer a little girl, she is an adult now, curious and aware, and was happily confident to share with me many of the things she has come to learn, to know, to be.
How nice to have had these days together; how overdue they were.
How poignant to relive the “could have, should have” memories from the days and years now lost.
How welcome to have this enriching experience with which to move forward in our relationship.
***
It is well-known that Dharma practice informs, over-and-over and in a myriad of ways, about impermanence: both the gross impermanence of all things coming to an end along with the subtle impermanence of ongoing change occurring in each and every moment.
We are reminded of this through teachings, practices, contemplations, meditations and the engaging awareness of how we approach and experience the times of our life.
Certainly, our Tibetan Buddhist curriculum is penetrating and vast.
But there are times when, quite simply, all that’s required is time with a loved one to hammer home the impermanence of everything we are and know in the most honest, profound and beautiful of ways.
***