On the Look Out.

I pulled a big, white, cotton blanket out of my washer today and wished for a clothesline. Then I wished it was dry and warm enough out for clothes to air out on a clothesline. I paint clotheslines, watercolor pictures of them. It's a funny obsession. I find myself jealous that my neighbor has a clothesline, but never uses it for clothes. He uses it for his mop. Who uses mops anymore when there's the Swiffer, the sponge on a stick, your foot and a washcloth? Along with my obsession with clotheslines, I have an obsession with nearness. It has been coming back in droves lately. My nieces are not near enough, the grocery store isn't near enough, the mountains are not near enough, now isn't near enough. The place I go to that I obsess about has all the walkability of a Jan Karon's Mitford Series, but not so small town that it doesn't hold hiking trails 5 miles away, or a Contemporary Art Museum down the block, or a short ride with my niece to the zoo. Hangup's are funny, annoying things. My husband and I went to hear an architect read and discuss his new book about the architecture of sacred places. He compared all the great mediator's, ie. Moses, Muhammad, Jesus, Buddha, etc. as these connector's between God and people. He said sacred places act as sort of mediators/connector's for people/community in hopes to gather near to God. He said that in his research, one thing he noticed all sects of belief share when they designed a mosque, temple, sanctuary, was that each one of these places said, "I AM HERE." They created a serious presence in whatever spot they built upon. Be it in the middle of a field, the heart of the city, a place on a hillside---all sorta called out, "SEE ME." I don't compartmentalize well. I think all things blend, integrate, intertwine with one another. I say this because maybe I feel far away from people, things, a bookstore, because I feel far away from a presence or direction that says, "I am HERE. See ME." God's a little blurry...and I am, too. My husband's nephew just got a beautiful tattoo that was created with a new ink out on the market...the color is black cherry. His tattoo looked so much more defined, distinct, dimensional due to black cherry ink. God is probably more like black cherry ink, but right now I'm seeing him kinda like the ship anchor tattoo on a 75-year-old man who got his ink done when he was 18. Waaaaaay different. I've noticed lately that I have used phrases like, "pull the miles between us in" and "hive in", and I've used arm motions like I'm gleaning oats in a field. I've never gleaned oats in a field, but I'm imagining that that's what I'm doing. I'm wanting to make the universe smaller, and in the center of this smaller universe I'm needing a mediator/connector that says, "This way. Come here. You got it. That's it now." I'm full of journey, but no destination. Sliver sightings of destinations are good every now and then. I'll let you know if I see one:-).