Look Up

Life lessons sometimes come in tiny pieces.

Today I learned – don’t look down, look UP.

The past couple of days I have been sad, really missing my sissy Annette.  My other sister, Sherry, and I really felt like we got a couple of “messages from the great beyond” from Annette when Sher and I were together recently in DC.  But after Sherry went back home, I felt alone.  No sisters, no messages. 

So, I decided that there HAD to be a message, I was just MISSING it.  The universe didn’t want me to be sad, I reasoned, I just need to FIND THE MESSAGE.  And (because I am apparently the controller of all things coming from the great beyond…) I decided that the message would be in the form of a painted rock. 

So, I walked around for a few days with my head down – looking at rocks.  I turned rocks over (“Surely the OTHER side is painted!” I would think.  Then flip the rock.  Only to be disappointed twice – by the same dumb rock.)  As I continued to hunt, I quickly grew frustrated.  Almost no one in my area paints and hides rocks.  “Maybe this Spring I will find her message on a rock…” I thought, then quickly counted an imaginary calendar in my brain and realized how far away Spring is.  Sigh. 

Only, you see, that’s not how messages WORK.  You can’t WILL them to appear.  You can’t wish and hope and squeeze your forehead so tight in concentration that BAM – the message is there.

Instead you have to open your heart.  Your soul.  And your EYES.

Today I spent the day playing tourist in my own city.  I had a fabulous day.  It was very warm out and I walked and walked and walked.  I treated myself to several outdoor sculpture gardens.  I breathed in the sunshine.  And I took a stroll around the Hirshhorn, a fantastic art museum in DC.  I looked at the current exhibits listed on a sign and set my sights on seeing the Marcel Duchamp work.  I don’t know why I picked that one, I have no particular affection for Duchamp.  But I moseyed around the museum looking for that exhibit. 

And right before I found what I was hunting for, I looked up to see this – a painting by Alberto Giacometti. 

My Message

I examined it.  I enjoyed it.  Then I looked at the plaque to read about it.

"Annette", by Alberto Giacometti 

The painting’s name is ANNETTE.

Annette. 

There it was – my message.  She was there.  She was smiling.  And of course, I smiled too.  And when I told my sister Sherry about my message and showed her the photos, she pointed out that not only was the painting the same NAME as our sister, it was painted the SAME YEAR OF HER BIRTH, 1961!!

I spent the rest of the day looking up.  Rocks were under my feet, and maybe I passed a message or 2 painted on them and didn’t see, who knows.  But I had gotten my message.  In fact, I got a second one when I looked up to double-check my item on a menu board and realized the café I had chosen to eat at today was called “The 3 Sisters”.

Today’s life lesson seems easy but was tough to figure out.  LOOK UP.  You can’t “will” things your way, but if your eyes are pointed the right direction, you won’t miss the messages.