The rushing away of the calm

Evidently I am out of sorts.

Sitting on my stool at the counter of the Breakfast Club this morning Julia sits beside me, drinking hot tea and has her "spirit stick" with her. "It wards off bad spirits," she told me, then she shook it at me.

I smiled and didn't say anything.

She walked in to give Whitley and Johnny O their Obama "Made in America" tee shirts but neither was interested and they abruptly left.

So I sat next to Julia. "Micheal, I perceive that you are troubled," she says with her eyes closed and palms facing upward on the counter. "You just need to let it come to you. It is all ordained anyway. Just let it go."

I stared at her. "I just have a lot on my mind. Work stuff," I explained.

She shook the spirit stick in response and left.

Then my friend Pattie sat on the other side of me to eat her breakfast. She does this many mornings and reads the headlines of the newspaper that I glanced through earlier. We keep each other current on our lives during this time. It's become part of the morning routine.

"What's wrong?" she asks while picking at eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes.

I stared at her. "Nothing," I answer.

She stares at me. "Right," she shoots back.

Then I stood up to make my way to the bathroom. Chris is my friend and one of the Chefs. Normally they are preoccupied in morning before the place opens so we don't talk all of that much. But I follow Chris down the hall and he's thinking about whatever he's got to do when he suddenly stops and turns around. We stand literally face-to-face in the tiny hallway.

"You alright?" he asks staring me dead in the eyes.

I shake my head staring back at him. "Yeah, I'm good."

He reaches out and touches my arm.

"Sure?"

I stare at him.

"Yeah," I stammer.

Back at the counter, Pattie pats my cheek and tells me that it will be OK.

I leave, hop on my bike and ride a block over to the ocean. The sun is sprinkling diamonds on the sea. The smoke that has blanketed the island is gone. The sky is a brilliant blue.

I roll back home and open the door and Goddess is waiting on the step. She stares at me.

"What?" I ask.

She stares at me.

Upstairs I get ready for work, staring out of the sliding glass doors at Fran's thousand shades of green.

Then ... this sense of promise engulfs me. It's like an adrenaline rush ... the anxiety that hits right before you know something big is getting ready to happen ... the rushing away of the calm before the storm ... the sudden explosion of new creation!

I smile and get to work.