The Sweet In Between.

A little balm for election day.

This is my favorite Maple. A redhead! Some Petey colors! I squeal when I see it.

Yesterday I put Om on my windows.

I drew the sacred symbol and colored it in with green, purple, and blue markers and taped them to the three windows facing the house next door, the one that’s being flipped. The one that’s been the site of constant construction – chainsaws, hammers, nail guns, drilling, yelling – including Sundays, for almost two months. Om is a Sanskrit symbol representing sacred sound, but in the West, it’s believed that the phrase calms the senses, among other things. There’s much more to it than that, but when I walked into the New Renaissance Bookstore this past weekend for a birthday citrine and asked about protection against unwanted sound, she told me to put “Om” in my window. “You can buy one of our stickers or just draw it,” she said, smiling. “It reflects the sound back to where it came from. Basically, it sends the chaos back.”

I sent the chaos back.

Hypersthene, Shungite, Orange calcite, and my Om.

I’m highly sensitive to noise, I think most artists and writers are, so I’ve been trying lots of things to protect myself lately. I wear high-quality ear plugs and noise-cancelling headphones until my neck hurts; I work in libraries and cafes, at friend’s houses and have looked into co-work spaces. But after two months of constant noise, chainsaws and excavators included, my nervous system is jangly. Especially when the roofers came back today for the never-ending roofing job, which made me laugh. Of course today wouldn’t be quiet. It’s not going to be quiet, anywhere! Roofers and the swirl of an election, anxiety and excitement, there’s not a lot of Om around. But last month, in the midst of it, I escaped to see a friend in Colville, Washington. It’s a gorgeous place of sweeping views and flowing rivers, vistas and blues skies, and quiet that went on for miles. I thought maybe you could use some of that today, too.

Views! Note the blue spirit dot in the corner. :)

Spokane, Washington.

The Columbia! But in Washington.

The best kind of blue! Obviously.

Me mailing he 300+ postcards my sister and I wrote to encourage Democrats in Texas who don’t always vote to…. Vote!

Hiyeeeeee.

Take. It. In.

After meditation this morning, something popped in my head and I immediately texted my favorite women: “Okay! I called it IN during meditation this morning. I feel like all of my spiritual sisters are on it. Kamala Harris! May it be so!” Everyone texted back immediately, feeling the surge of the moment, just for a moment. The possibility. The cautious optimism. The careful hope. The Om of it all.

Because we voted. (Thank you!) Because we’re voting today. (Thank you for standing in lines!) Because we have to believe, just a little bit, that we put our Oms in the window. That we sent, and are sending, the chaos back.

And in the meantime, I hope these pictures help. The time before the time. The sweet in between. While we wait, put a stone in your pocket. Walk through a garden. Draw at 5:00 PST with

DrawTogether with WendyMac

on Instagram Live. Dance it out and into being! I believe the world can be better when we work for it. And we, dear readers, are working for it. Thanks for showing up, voting, volunteering, having hard conversations, and being. I feel all of us together, even though we’re apart. And for me, there’s huge possibility in that.

See you on the other side!

xoxo,

Kari