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qosI feel very lucky that I was able to travel a significant distance as part of the overall initiation process. Getting physically away from my daily life, traveling well past the usual boundaries of my personal world, had a subtle but real impact on my state of mind. It helped that my teacher lives in a small town in the mountains, and the journey took me outside of cities, through agricultural land, and over a mountain pass. I kept wishing I could move out into this beautiful country.
After ten hours or so on the road -- including a stop to have lunch with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sannion and erl_queen (meeting face to face for the first time), I pulled into town, found my hotel, and called my teacher. She walked the mile or so from her house and we went out for a nice dinner at a restaurant just across the street from where I was staying. We had a great time talking, and then I drove her home.
The next day was Fourth of July, and she had warned me that there would not be parking near their house, so I walked the pleasant stretch between the hotel and her place. It was around 8am, and there were few people on the street and very few cars.
Suddenly I saw a doe emerging from the landscaped bushes across the four-lane street from me. She calmly crossed the sidewalk, walked into the street, and made her way to the landscaped median -- seeming to be coming directly toward me. I stood still and watched her, feeling blessed.
She stood in the median for a long time, shying when a car went past, but not moving forward. I suddenly realized that she probably wasn't comfortable having me so close to her intended path, so I continued slowly on my way, watching her out of the corner of my eye. As soon as I started moving, she too continued on her way, passing behind me and then starting to trot gracefully past the 7-11 and down the residential street.
I don't see deer very often, and certainly not within city limits. But the last time something like this happened, it was at the intersection of a busy edge-of-town street in the day or two before I went on a wilderness retreat a few years ago. At that time, two deer emerged from cover, crossed the street toward me, and then went on their way. I saw deer several times during that trip and shortly after.
After ten hours or so on the road -- including a stop to have lunch with
sannion and erl_queen (meeting face to face for the first time), I pulled into town, found my hotel, and called my teacher. She walked the mile or so from her house and we went out for a nice dinner at a restaurant just across the street from where I was staying. We had a great time talking, and then I drove her home. The next day was Fourth of July, and she had warned me that there would not be parking near their house, so I walked the pleasant stretch between the hotel and her place. It was around 8am, and there were few people on the street and very few cars.
Suddenly I saw a doe emerging from the landscaped bushes across the four-lane street from me. She calmly crossed the sidewalk, walked into the street, and made her way to the landscaped median -- seeming to be coming directly toward me. I stood still and watched her, feeling blessed.
She stood in the median for a long time, shying when a car went past, but not moving forward. I suddenly realized that she probably wasn't comfortable having me so close to her intended path, so I continued slowly on my way, watching her out of the corner of my eye. As soon as I started moving, she too continued on her way, passing behind me and then starting to trot gracefully past the 7-11 and down the residential street.
I don't see deer very often, and certainly not within city limits. But the last time something like this happened, it was at the intersection of a busy edge-of-town street in the day or two before I went on a wilderness retreat a few years ago. At that time, two deer emerged from cover, crossed the street toward me, and then went on their way. I saw deer several times during that trip and shortly after.
