april 5, 2020
What does this mean to you? I saw this and thought to myself what was Helen Keller talking about. I sat and thought about the time when I went to the Chicago Trapeze School with my sister and friend. Climbing up the ladder was scary. I’m not afraid of heights, but the anticipation of getting to the top and swinging across was accelerated. I got to the top and held the bar. Now what?! Do I just hold on? Do I take that leap? Do I leap and hang out while swinging for a few moments? I finally took the leap and the moments between going from the bar and falling down to the net were scary,freeing and unknown. We would go up a few more times and each time it got a little easier, however I was still hanging on to the bar for dear life. We added a flip when exiting the bar a few times and then had the opportunity to swing from one bar to the hands of a professional on the other bar. My life was now in someone else’s hands. I was in control of the swing, but I also had to make sure I was watching the timing so that I could grasp the professional’s hands.
From just holding on and swinging to swinging and flipping to going upside down and grasping hands in front of me, each change was a new step of growing and challenging myself. The space in between the bars was me going from one place to the next looking at what is up ahead for me. Where would I end up - many times this is how life can be. Before I would be so focused on the future, but especially now living in the present is so important.
I did google “Life between trapeze bars” and came across the “Parable of the Trapeze” - Check it out here !
Right now I feel like a lot of our lives are between the trapeze bars. I hope that you all are able to get from one bar to the next with a lot of care and support. You are not alone.