The Aura of Daughts…

After 18 months living away, first on a ship,

Then sharing with her brother,

And finally on her own,

Daughts decided to come home.

I mention this to one of my homeschooling friends, also going through empty nest, and she says,

“I love it when they do that!”

And all the thoughts of losing my office and space in which to quietly practice Yoga in an uncluttered, light and airy room, evaporate.

“I love it too!”  I sigh.

When she’s had to rush off to work at 5am I take her place and snuggle into the atmosphere folded in her belongings.

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Each scarf recounts a tale:

Summer in Paris,

Winter in New York,

Spring in London and

Autumn on the decks of the Grand Mistral.

I unfurl my mat, a familiar place in all seasons.

I set my intention on her feet as they carry her,

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defying gravity, over the afternoon traffic of her life.  The Dallas skyline a backdrop for her testing ground.

A hand thrown pot brings memories of Canterbury where a cousin was lost to leukemia 4 years ago…

May light eternal shine upon him.

Glasses make reading easier, but the nearby nail polish, hastily applied while on the way to dance class, means she rarely has time for the written word…yet.

At the touch of a thumb media is brought to life, as are her lips with the gentle salve of bees and her sweet tooth fed by secret truffles.  A moment of calm snatched in the frenzy.

I practice balances bringing my mind under God’s control by standing absolutely motionless, like a scarecrow in a field on a hot and windless day,

Remembering to breathe.

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Lavender oil helps her over active brain to sleep, after a frantic day, in the deepness of her pillows.

I reach high before I swan dive to fold forward and direct my prayers to go and rest among her comforter and blankets,

to later snuffle out her weary soul tangled in the tousle when she returns to rest.

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Images of friends adorn her shelves.

Good times captured and framed, a whimsical picture of her again in flight leaping to smell the fragrant blossom along a river bed, unseen but known.

I form my body into a cleansing twist finding a way to be comfortable in my own skin… always… to love myself so I can love others.

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Her perfumes push and shove themselves forward for attention and there is one we bought together at the airport tipping all our English change onto the cashier’s counter at the end of our three week stay.

United by fragrance I close my eyes in prayer.

The shoe will always take centre stage and my intention drifts back to her feet that they may carry her safely wherever she goes.

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The written word makes time in memory brought forth from the safety of her heart even on the most hectic of days,

“Domine non sum dignus,”

sings out to me in downward-facing-dog as I bow with this prayer of humble access.

Earrings, a powder puff, a fond reminder of Mediterranean nights and a cube declaring the importance of togetherness,

Brings my hour on my mat and in her room to a close.

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In the quiet of my Yoga I have carved a place of stillness and inhaled the mood Daughts left for me.

I breathe the air she has breathed and regard the room I’ve left intact…

My practice is so much richer with her aura.

My intercessions cling to it in every corner and on every surface and will be there when she returns later,

DaughtsCoffee

bearing her presence with a cup of coffee and a smile.

 

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