“Don’t move the dresser into my room, I am not sure how long I will be here.”
Having moved home to search for a new job, my life entered a period of waiting. I could not commit to any thing long term because I did not know if I would still be in the same place one week or six months later. My life was being lived day today. A year and a half later, I still did not have a dresser but now did not need it. In the course of a week, the pattern broke and I was moving forward.

During this time of waiting, I began to see evidence of the temporary and impermanence that was around me. Aging parents and childhood pets, the slow passage of time as I waited; the seasons changed. All reinforcements of my transitory state of being; all things that may or may not last longer then my time in this place.

In contrast, there were institutions that had always been, my parents 30 plus years of marriage, my life long family vacation home, and cyclical seasonal rituals with my large supportive extended family. In my time of the temporary these reminders of longevity allowed for me to hope that my life would be able to move forward.