I am ready.

"Don't believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding, find out what you already know...and you'll see the way to fly."

Excerpt from Johnathan Livingston Seagull

For some reason, I pulled the little book, Johnathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach, off my shelf lastnight and started to read it before going to bed. It's a tiny little book that has less than 100 pages with lots of amazing photos of seagulls in flight.

The book is amazing. I'm not yet finished it but as I woke up this morning, the message I slept on, from the book, was about judgement. The book spoke of this and how, as seagulls, conforming to the group and flying in formation was sometimes sought after.... while standing apart, being an "outcast", by soaring on one'sonw path, different from the flock, was not to be done even if the gull was compelled and called in a different direction.

It made me think about how hard I can be in judging myself. I'm not very judgemental about other people...but of myself...wow! It's a good thing that I've got another 6 months of writing your blog, Mom, b/c I still have a ways to go on this. I've come a long way, for sure, but I still can get so wrapped up in what "other people think".

I think I need to grab another coffee and finish this little book before heading to the hostel this morning.

Mom, I love you. Thank you for encouraging me to fly on my own path and not conform to the flock. Thank you for encouraging me to be myself. And thank you for showing me what soaring looks like.

You truly are my greatest mentor, my inspiration, and most certainly, the wind beneath my wings.
Love you,
Crystal

"Maynard gull, you have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way. It is the Law of the Great Gull, the Law that Is...You are free!"

"I am ready,” he said at last. And Jonathan Livingston Seagull rose with the two star-bright gulls to disappear into a perfect dark sky.