11.1.11

Lots of ones.
That seems to be a theme in my life these days.
"One" from A Chorus Line, the St. Andrew's musical this year. Songs and words from it are still ringing in my head. This is a good thing. There are so many powerful messages in that show. So many poignant questions. So many good lessons.
Next up: "One Step Closer to You" from Dean's yoga class on Sunday. I loved the emphasis on everything starting with one step. One chance to begin again. One movement forward. And forward to what or whom? Another person? Yourself? Either. Both. It was such a good reminder to me that every project, journey, relationship evolves one milestone, step, memory at a time. Few things that hold any meaning in my life came together all at once. They are more like beautiful puzzles that were put together one piece at a time. Silly me. I sometimes expect my current life to follow a different pattern. Why in the world would it? Why in the world would I want it to?
And then today in yoga, "One" performed by U2 and Mary J. Blige. At the end of another class taught by Dean. With an emphasis on the date - 11.1.11 - the 12-year anniversary of Yoga Vida. There was some amazingly good energy in the room tonight. The sort of energy that made you feel powerful and courageous and humble and grateful all at the same time. Perhaps it was the mix of teachers and students. Perhaps it was all of us acknowledging Yoga Vida's birthday and giving thanks for the place and the people. Perhaps it was the beginning of the month and the promise that always holds for me.
I think for me it was some combination of relief that November 1 had come and gone and along with it all of those pesky EA/ED deadlines that I'd fretted over for the last weeks...the energy that a new month brings to me with all sorts of hope for a new beginning...the beauty of the day and the gratitude that fall is finally here...the relief of having shared my plans for college counseling next year with the college counselors (and having gotten their full support) and the odd sense of empowerment that has come from asking for help - once the guilt started to melt away.
Guess it's a bigger day for me than I realized.
Good thing I'm getting a little older in a few days...I might need an extra hint of wisdom to be able to manage all of this.
Oh, and I did a headstand tonight.
On my own.
Without a wall.
And I held it for a few moments.
And then I fell over.
I'm not sure what moved me to do it. But it seemed like a good thing to do at the start of a new month. Besides, what was the worst thing that could happen? I could fall. And I did. And I'm still alive to tell the story. And I actually feel a HUGE sense of accomplishment. Both about the headstand AND about the fall. (It helps that I didn't take anyone down with me in the fall. It was actually rather graceful - I rolled forward like I'm pretty sure we used to do in gymnastics.)
Pretty big start to the 11th month of the year. Pretty excited to see what else it holds.