Good Morning,
This time of year there's a message on my phone the "Voice Mail Lady" would really like for me to erase. When I check for messages she lets me know...
"You have one saved message." She plays it for me then with voice unmoved asks me to press "7" if I'd like to erase the message or "9" if I'd like to save...
In a rush of anxiety, I'm always jamming on the 9!!!!! You see this is the last message I received from my Fishing Buddy Bill. He died two weeks after this recorded message.
It goes...
"This is Bill. Just callin to see what you was doin. I'll talk to you later. bye."
It may seem like an insignificant memento like somewhere over the course of two years I should have hit 7 but it's not! What the "Voice Mail Lady" has yet to understand is that this is not an unhealthy holding onto...I'm actually using it as a crutch for "letting go" into something else...simplicity.
In Bill's voice and words, I'm reminded of how very little we need to be okay...(And maybe that he's out there somewhere checkin in)...
An apartment with heat. (check)
clean underwear...OR a place you can clean it (check, check!)
a warm breakfast. or knowing there's always time for cereal...(check!)
a place to go where everybody knows your name...some people call it church (check!), TV called it Cheers...it could also be the gym (check!), work, school, AA meetings, or a hole in the wall diner called Stan's : ).
a good relationship with denim- i.e., a single item of denim clothing that fits comfortably (check!)
curiosity and a project to work on (check!)
the love of at least one good woman- preferably one you can take fishing and to car shows...(check!?!?)
In short, what I'm doing is using this message as what Buddha Teacher Gil would call an invitation to "let go" into simplicity. As noted in the frantic number punching, 9!!!! 9!!!, I haven't quite mastered this one yet, but I know there will be many more opportunities to practice...now, sorry I must go. Time to make some phone calls!...
Happy Monday,
Amanda
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