Standing Between Worlds

I’ve found myself thinking a tad about liminality.

The term comes from the Latin, means a threshold, and points to that state of standing between.

We all know that experience, for things small and large.

And boy, I feel it right now, in spades. Today lots of things converge, and new directions abound, bubbling possibilities. It happens to be Jan’s and my twenty-sixth wedding anniversary. With a little luck it is also the day we sign the purchase and sale agreement. (I can’t believe how fortunate we have been in trying to sell our house in this adverse market. We put a lot of money into “staging” the house, and we priced it as realistically as we could. But, to get an offer after two days! It’s that sort of thing that makes people (who don’t think too closely about it) think of divine intervention…) And. And I’ve just had to cancel two appointments this morning as I’m trying hard to get over and visit someone I think the world of who has just entered hospice…

The truth is we’re all, always standing in doorways. Each breath births a new world. the old dies. Something new is born. We might look back with longing or regret. We might look forward with anxiety or joy. Certainly noticing the richness of a moment can leave one with a wild mix of emotions.

This ability to notice where we have been and have a hint of the direction in which we are going is the joy and the sorrow of our human existence. At least I find this to be so. Today. In spades.

For me today is a magical moment of such noticing.

The question, probably, is: how do we deal with our liminality?

Here’s my plan.

Today I visit with my friend.

Somewhere along the line today, I expect we’ll sign that P&S.; (Although looking into the future, even when there are actual notes made in calendars, is always problematic…)

And this evening Jan & I will leave auntie with a nice little take away dinner, and we’ll go the the Union Oyster House to enjoy each other and to contemplate our twenty-six years.

And wonder, maybe, just a little, about our passing this threshold and where it may lead.

I think this may well be enough…