A week in boundary setting

My goal this school year was to create and keep some boundaries around my personal time, such as ignoring emails after dinner, and keeping clear my one day off each week. I did not last very long, and our resident skunk, which I have only met recently, has visited at the beginning and at the end of this long week (we work weekends and holidays) to remind me of my goal. And last night as I fell asleep after texting with a parent, the pungent scent of skunk wafted into my bedroom. I believe that the surrounding world is filled with signs and messages, and that we can connect and learn from our resident animal friends. I have found Ted Andrew’s books, Animal Wise, and Animal Speak to be helpful in the interpretation of sightings, and have been using these texts for the past 20 years to gain insight into our connection with the surrounding natural world.

I wrote about my run-ins this week with my stinky friend, who, from a distance, looks like a balled up sweater as most of its fur is cream-colored. It is only upon closer examination that one would see the black on the belly, and, with one’s off-leash dog, there might be an influx of adrenaline to add to the mug of coffee I carry on my forays through the yard each morning.

I have been posting a Daily Note on my Substack: https://substack.com/@mslauraasmithwriter since the beginning of the year. For each day’s note I draw a series of tarot cards for inspiration and the writing emerges from my relationship with the cards that day. This week’s notes have been starring my puffy friend, and I am going to share one here. Subscribe to my Substack, Moon Penny Musings under the umbrella page “MsLauraASmithWriter” to receive these notes! Here is yesterday’s short piece.

September 12,  

The morning is magical as we head into autumn, and each time I take my dog through the yard the light is different; the birds are incrementally quieter and sound more like conversations as they wake slowly, rather than the exuberant choruses in the early spring and summer. In the twilight this morning, I paused at my favorite maple tree, and happened to notice a white tumbleweed in the distance, and was grateful when I realized it was the resident skunk before my dog did, in time to call her back, just enough so the fluffball could make her way back into the patch of thornbushes and sumac trees. Luna was thrilled to have a game of hide and seek with a “friend” and happily romped through the yard, taking short breaks to follow her nose. After my breathing returned to normal (I had work to do) and the skunk safely out of sight, I was grateful to witness the light shift into dawn, and hear the newly awakened towhees and catbirds. Although Mother Nature can present herself as chaotic, with her storms and deerflies, there is an underlying balance apparent during the transition times. From night to day, and season to season, we are mostly eased into our next phase of life. I have to remember that, to allow myself to ease into my next stop along the path. Can I slow down enough today to create and witness my own self slide from one phase into another, one day at a time? 

Cards drawn for inspiration: 4 of Wands, 4 of Swords, 4 of Cups (it is a 4 kind of day)