Little Reminders

Earlier this week, I was on the phone with the frickin' phone company and typing away on a report on my computer when I looked up and saw a piece of notebook paper sticking out from a binder on my desk.  Since we don't actually use notebook paper in my office, I pulled it out to see what it was.  It was a letter from my friend who died in August.  The short note had accompanied the drawing of Ganesh he'd made me for a gift.  It is still sitting on top of my desk and I have read over it quite a few times this week.

Then, last night I had one of those experiences that could either be totally flaky or deeply meaningful.

During shavasana, while clearing my mind, I had a vision of a lotus flower.  At the time I thought it was cool that I had been able to clear my mind of the work week stresses.

Later, after dinner, I picked up a cookbook to look up a recipe for a friend.  One of the cookbooks I received after my friend's death was a, now out of print, book on southeast Asian cooking.  This was his go-to book most of the time, and we'd talked about it several times while swapping food stories.  There are several tabbed pages, bookmarks, and notes written on his favorite recipes.  As I thumbed through, one of his drawings flitted out . . . and smack in the middle of the drawing was a lotus flower.

Several months before his death, he'd promised to design a tattoo for me.  He never managed to design something that he liked, although he'd made a few attempts.  After his death, when his father sent me a box of his old self-published magazines and art, I looked through them hoping to find a small design I could turn into a tattoo, but didn't.  Now, I have my tattoo design from him.

Now, I just need to make plans to hook up with my oldest/dearest pal so we can get tats together.