Being Open with a Capital O

"When you make a decision, the Universe moves to support you." --Mary Manin Morrissey

I am not sure choosing the word OPEN as my word for the year was a decision so much as a premonition, but whatever it was the Universe is moving to support me all right.

Part of what I had in mind when choosing the word was being more open to changes in "The Plan." Changes to what I had in mind for that day and for my life. Well, let me tell you, the Universe is moving to support that all right.

It started on the night before New Year's Eve, before I had even chosen the word OPEN (that happened on New Year's Day during my morning meditation). We had plans for New Year's, of course. Dinner with friends, maybe stop by another party after that. We bought champagne and were concocting a "signature cocktail" to bring to the dinner. Phone calls were made. Emails were exchanged. A Plan was in place. 

Fast forward to 4:00 AM on New Year's Eve. I am awakened by the click, swish of our bedroom door being opened by someone decidedly NOT trying to be quiet so as not to wake me. 

"Mom!"

I grunt and squint at the figure standing beside my bed. It's my younger son, looking pale in the bathroom light. 

"I threw up." 

"Okay honey. What do you need?" 

"I need to come in your bed and I need some water." 

"Okay honey."

He lies down. I get up, empty the barf bucket we had the presence of mind of give him when he said his tummy felt funny the night before (we will not be so well prepared when the same virus hits my older son unfortunately), get him some water and head back to bed. 

I meet my husband in the hall. He is going to sleep on the couch. Clearly I am on vomit patrol tonight. "Thanks," I say, my voice thick with sarcasm. He gets the point and joins us in the bed for a morning of restless sleep. 

The next day we spend deciding if we can go to the party or not. My sister is visiting and can babysit, but should we leave her with sick kids? Are we contagious? Does our son need us to be home with him? 

As the day wears on my sister starts to feel unwell and I can feel the wheels coming off the bus of our New Year's Eve plans. It just isn't meant to be. We call and cancel. Everyone is in bed by 10:00 and asleep before 2012 even begins. 

Two days later the kids are back to school and I have my week planned out:

Tues: Teach "GET GLOWING for 20-12 and Write YOUR Year" with my sister (who is feeling better and never did throw up thank goodness!)

Wed: Holiday Returns and Grocery Shopping. Get back to exercising. 

Thurs: Meeting. Massage. More grocery shopping. More exercise.

Fri: Write. Walk. Pack for a weekend trip. 

All goes as planned until Wednesday morning when my younger son once again says he doesn't feel well. He isn't vomiting or running a fever, but he looks pekid and tired. Going back to school the day before was obviously too much for him. So I pack in my day of shopping, move the writing to Wednesday, the shopping to Thursday and all is well. 

Thursday morning at 1:00 AM I hear the click, swish again. This time it is my older son. 

"Mom, I threw up."

Groan. "Okay, what do you need?"

"I need you to clean it up and I need some water."

"Okay, I'll be right there."  

I walk into his room and the first thing I see is a perfectly round puddle of vomit right next to his bed. The next thing I see is the splatter all over everything near his bed. Books, Pokemon cards, pillows and stuffed animals, all splattered with barf. 

I stand there for a few seconds trying to figure out how I am going to clean this up without making a bigger mess and getting it all over myself. Finally, inspiration strikes. The pancake flipper. 

After getting my son a drink, I head to the kitchen, rummage around in the junk drawer and pull it out. I begin to clean up. 

By 2:30 he is asleep and everything is as clean as it is going to get tonight. I wash my hands (for about the tenth time since 1:00 AM) and go back to bed. 

In the morning I once again give up on shopping and exercising and spend the day cleaning and taking care of my boy. 

By this time I am laughing inside.  

OPEN? The Universe seems to be saying to me. You want to be OPEN to new possibilities, new plans, a different way of seeing and being? All righty then, let's do it!  

Everyday since then there has been some change, some shift, some upset that I have had to adapt to, weather, come to terms with. And I have to say that I have handled this with aplomb. I have gone with the flow and flowed with the go. I have been OPEN to changes in my day and my plan and my world view. 

And what it all comes back to really is all I need to know about being OPEN is that I already am - and have been - I just didn't know it yet. 

We all are. The Universe is in charge, not us. Every plan we make is just one possibility for how our day (our life) will unfold. There are untold possibilities of which we are yet unaware. 

So stay tuned, because they are coming, just around the bend, or perhaps at 4:00 AM this morning.