Dana Irons
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Minding The Gap 

"Mind the Gap!" is a classic British phrase, announced frequently in Tube stations across London.  It is a polite reminder to "Pay Attention!" "Check your surroundings!" Literally, watch out for the space between the train and the platform, which you are unaccustomed to, which changes from train to train.  
Travel provides the opportunity to step out of our comfort zone and familiar patterns, thus heightening our senses.  We see life through a different lens, one that magnifies the details and helps us notice more.  Writing does the same thing for me. Join me as I travel through life, trying my best to "mind the gap" in the adventure of everyday. 


Almost Spring...

3/19/2018

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​Spring is my favorite time of year.   Having arrived in London during the darkest, coldest time of the year, I can’t wait to experience England in the springtime.   I can sense it right around the corner, but so far, it seems like it just won’t come.  Increasingly over the last few weeks, I’ve started noticing little green shoots poking through the mulch, buds are forming on the trees, a few are just barely starting to flower, and the daffodils are starting to bloom in the park!  But just when I was getting excited, it snowed this weekend!  
 
Perhaps because we’re so much more exposed to the elements here as we walk everywhere, or because I have to go outside to the shed to put clothes in the dryer (I’m not complaining- it’s still better than crunchy clothes that dry on the line), or maybe because I just don’t like being cold, I am very attuned to these little signs that the season is changing. I am more eager than I ever remember for Spring to come and stay. 
 
More than any other year, I am struck by how the season of Lent, in anticipation of Easter (which falls on April 1 this year), overlaps with and echoes nature’s cycle of new life coming after a time of darkness and hard ground.  On Ash Wednesday at the beginning of Lent, the liturgy reminds us that we come from dust and invites us into a time of letting go and going without.  There is suffering, a loss of the status quo, and a facing of the unknown in the stories of the disciples and Jesus leading up to Easter.  And then, there is this bursting forth of glory and hope come Easter morning with our celebration of Jesus’ resurrection and promise of a new life through faith in Him.

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This time for us here has not been one of suffering by any means, but certainly there has been a shake-up of the status quo, and there are some unknowns.  This waiting in the cold for the sun to shine and the plants to green and bloom feels appropriate- there is good and beauty as is, but I sense something more right around the corner.  My heart is lining up with the season, little shoots of green, new life, new energy, hope for whatever comes next.  While I ponder what that is, I take heart knowing that good work is happening during this “dormant” time, when I have a lot less going on than I’m used to.  A lot is happening underground, in those bulbs and on tree buds.   Roots are growing deeper, and sometimes plants are spreading horizontally, so that when there is finally enough sunlight and moisture, the stems press up through the soil and flowers emerge.

I will try to be grateful for the cold and gray days, as they heighten my anticipation and increase my joy and pleasure when the sun comes out and the flowers bloom.  Some seasons in life are like that, and I celebrate that not every day is sunny, so that we can grow and be nourished until the time is right, and we can be more joyful when things come together! 
 
Spring for us here in London also means the arrival of grandparents and friends from home who are coming to visit and share in our experience here.  I have loved “hibernating” and having the city to myself in some ways, but I look forward to seeing London through still different eyes and enjoying new experiences with our dearest friends and loved ones in this amazing place.  Already, we had Charles’ parents with us last week, and were able to go places and do things with them that we hadn't done yet (and their visit even enabled mom and dad to sneak away on our own adventure to Dublin!)  We saw Much Ado about Nothing in Shakespeare’s Globe, re-visited our favorite food stalls in the Borough Market, climbed to the top of St. Pauls, saw The Lion King in the West End, and even visited Windsor Castle while the Queen was there!  The kids literally got to choose their own adventures, and enjoyed time at the London Zoo, lunch in Chinatown, the fanciest ice-cream sundae I’ve ever heard of, the Transportation Museum, flying at the Science Museum, the world’s largest Lego Store….Let’s just say that on our end, Monday morning was very rough today, and I think Pop & Gi must be exhausted! ​  
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Arrive in the moment

3/2/2018

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As we approach the halfway mark of our semester abroad, I am fighting off the sadness that comes when something so long anticipated comes to a close.  I want to remain right here in the thick of it as long as I can! But cup half full-- I will enjoy this moment, in a little cafe down the street from Westminster Abbey, where I just popped in for a midday service, across a table from my favorite person in the world, sipping tea, watching the snow flurries.  I am trying to soak it all up, impress it in my mind so it can be another happy place I can go to in my thoughts when I'm somewhere less dreamy.  Humor me as I tell you about the classic red telephone box across the street , the double-decker buses rolling by, which are so iconic but truly so useful, the architecture of the buildings in my view- columns, arches, scrolls, whimsical details that are so commonplace here one almost forgets to notice them.  It could be practically any corner in London, but it achieves infamy when I sit in it for a while. 

I've been enjoying the opportunity to do a lot of yoga this past month, thanks to a "new member unlimited class 1 month trial." I've appreciated how yoga helps me embrace discomfort, whether a physical position, social situation, or bitter cold.  The practice is helping me to accept limitations, of my body, of life.  It sounds so obvious, but accepting the limitations helps me to embrace and appreciate reality.  For someone who has spent a lot of time in her life thinking about possibilities, alternatives, new houses, new jobs, vacations, this is a moment of clarity for me.  I've wasted a lot of time and mental energy daydreaming and planning for other moments rather then enjoying the one I'm in.  So it stuck with me in class a few weeks ago when the teacher invited us to "Arrive in the moment."  So often, I'm everywhere besides this moment.  Something about that simple instruction captured my imagination and has helped me appreciate that we're all coming and going somewhere, but we can pause in any given moment long enough to appreciate it, to let it be a destination. 
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Last week in class, while we were holding a particularly challenging pose (aka awkward body contortion), the instructor exhorted us to "Enjoy your breath."   Again, at face value, it sounds silly, but if you don't judge and just go with it, the simple awareness of one's breath is delightful! I've been experimenting with noticing my breath at other times, and noticing other simple pleasures, like a hot shower, the joy of dropping a sugar cube in that first morning cup of coffee, relishing in Jack's 6 year old snuggles.  
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I have less "on my plate" here than I do in Durham, and I'm grateful for this space to sit still and think a little bit more than usual.  But there's still laundry, groceries, cooking, dishes, homework, sibling squabbles... I said to Charles last night that it's not so much that I have less to do, but I have a different mindset.  In part, that mindset is made possible by getting out of our routine, but it's also because I'm being intentional about noticing more.  There's really  no reason why I can't be more mindful at home-it just takes practice. So I invite you my friends to pause here and there- Arrive in the moment.  Enjoy your breath.  If you can, take a day trip or a yoga class, but if you can't, make a cup of tea or go to a coffee shop.  Give yourself permission to sit, to read, to write, to be.    And when I'm home, if you see me frazzled, please remind me of my own advice! ​​
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