As I was communing with nature as I do every morning I was joined by a Praying Mantis. We looked at each other for what seemed one of those lifetime seconds. Those moments that bleed into present and future only because presence or present time awareness keeps moving, breathing, re-shaping all living things. So there we were seeing the other, she in her way and me in mine when she very smoothly moved her head into an inclined posture. Being human, after absorbing the wonderment of our connectedness I began to ask questions in silence to her. "Are you wondering what I am? I know you sense me as being safe or you would not move your hear and probably leave." We both seemed (humanizing her) content to be just where we were, no agenda or attachment to anything.We both remained in our dynamic stillness. She then took her extremely supple front legs balancing on her other 4 legs and began cleaning her face. Well, my eyes filled with tears and a sense of gratitude. For me it is sacred when nature allows me to see it and in turn sees me. There is a heart connectedness that occurs. I sense as an expansion in all directions, a slow wave of heat enters my body, tears fill my eyes and a smile takes over my face. A smile so big it feels as though my mouth and eyes touch. I had to take a picture on my phone as I was waiting to do a conference call. But really I was waiting for my heart to be opened once again.

Arrived home last night
from sunsets and moon rises
forever etched in my minds eye
whole body memory

as I was sitting in my kayak
in the vastness of the Pamlico Sound
where heaven and earth meet infinity murmurating birds  just off shore brought songs of delight 

sky and water of the same hue
reaching beyond my memory
into newness

 watery puffs of Dolphin breath passing within a foot of me as my kayak gently rocked with a sense of uplifting buoyancy

eyes seeing and meeting mine matching breath brought tears of connected resonance as open hearts oozed into the vast surround

sensations of nature being with (my) nature knowing this to be a result of practicing non freight the passed couple decades

 I am filled with so many emotional states all my body can do in response is empty 

all my heart connections brought to the forefront of my thinking as the continuing puffs and eyes pass bringing my heart into stilling mystery, gratitude, love and joy 

an initiation, a reunion, a continuation of my urge to become whole as part of the greater wholeness. Home.