Through the Torii Gate

To pass through a torii is to pass from one world to another.  These 'gates' are found at the entrances to temples and shrines, and they mark a figurative transition from the profane to the spiritual - not an insignificant change! 

Coming here has felt this way to me, and I hope that doesn't sound too bold. But how could an experience such as this be anything less than transformative, in big and small ways, and maybe even in spiritual ways?  How can we not have left some of our old selves behind to make room for the new things we've experienced and learned together?

And now, with boxes shipped, bags packed, and tearful farewells shared, our journey through the torii gate has come to an end. We are leaving this place, but will always carry its memory in our hearts. No doubt, much of life will soon return to what it was. In time, a laundry pinch will become a clothespin again. A separation excursion will again be known as a field trip. Car travel will replace train travel, I'll again be literate, and our day-to-day lives will resume a familiar rhythm. 

But on a grander scale there will always be the immeasurable gift of doing this big thing together, of learning together, of changing…together. Patrick and Evelyn, do you remember how we used to scurry to the side of the train platform just to get out of everyone's way? We have gone from stepping aside to let the crowd pass by to being the crowd that passes by. We have passed through the torii gate, and we are forever changed.