A Portal Into My Soul

There is a window in my bedroom on the third floor that looks out onto my ash and cherry trees, and onto the deck as well. I have spent many hours there as the years have passed. It has become my special space to rest and meditate, and to dream. "A place where I can go to tell my troubles to" if you will.


In the summer the view is lush and full, enveloped in an abundance of foliage and flowers. In the fall the trees are ablaze with the golden colors of nature at it's most robust. In the winter the view is of cold silhouetted branches in black and white sometimes glazed with ice or powdered with a fluffy coat of snow.

But come the spring nature puts on a show like no other. Sometime around the vernal equinox the buds begin to swell and then finally explode in a profusion of fragrant color adorning my deck with their resplendent beauty.

There are times throughout the year when I awake in the morning to the luminescence of a beaded stencil outlining the branches of my ash tree. From the window next to my bed, I look out upon it's branches and on to another space in time. Sometimes a picture of the past emerges like the face of gentle friend giving me comfort in what has been; sometimes it is the specter of a future event that mingles with my mind and gives rise to the anxiety of what might come. In any event this magical portal is and has been the venue through which I have watched my life unfold these many years and has been both a friend and foe to me. In times of sickness or loss it has comforted me, in times of joy and celebration it has held me up; but always and ever it is there for me.

Everyone has their own special place ... that place where they can take refuge and hide away from the world when it becomes too intense or merely to just sit and dream. There are certain places that register as calming or friendly, or just plain pleasant to be in. But in those moments of need it is important to remember that when we are not at home or near our special place we can always visit it in our minds.