Passing through

Aren't we all? Just passing through?

Yesterday as we walked under the thousands of saffron gates I thought about how we are all passing through. We journey aways with our families, join adult friends and lovers, journey through different professions and careers and onwards, passing through cities, countries, cultures and, even, this earth. Some people even think they know where we will go after here or how to get there. I think I might have been a nun in a former life - if there was a former life. And what would I be in the next? Perhaps a cat - proud and courageous, wandering free in the wilds, clicking and chirping at every bird I prowl.

Not that I believe in any of that.

We passed through the gates and as they billowed in the wind, Tom was reminded of sails. In the evening light they looked like long lines of Buddhist monks walking silently, like a whisper, through Central Park. I thought of them as Buddhist Sails as we joined hundreds (thousands?) of people wandering, walking, sauntering, running, skipping, jumping, cycling through Central Park.

Saffron gates decorated the park from every angle, even as we looked out from Summit Rock or across the meadow. As the billowing "Buddhist Sails" interacted with the environment so did all the people interact with them. A father carried his small girl on his shoulders so that she could reach up and grab the fabric in her hands. As if to give the adults permission, other men and women seeing her immediately started to reach up, some jumping in the air, to feel the texture above them. There were people sitting quietly watching us walking by. Conversations sprang up all around us as some thought of "why" or "how" the exhibit, and others marveled. For hours, many, many people walked through the Park with us. We heard French, German, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, Asian, Baltic and Arabic languages and just when I was thinking my outfit might be uncoordinated we saw a woman with a brightly colored frilly dress above long beige boots enclosed with a fur coat and bright pink wool hat and gloves. New York! Central Park! On Gates Day!

It felt like such a festive day brightening up the February cold with sun shining through the nylon saffron.

As we set out from Philadelphia to New York City I remarked that the directions resembled those I had printed out when I drove to "Africa" in January. Of course, that was a slip of the tongue as I had driven to Buffalo, New York, not Bulawayo, Rhodesia. And yet, that is what slipped out.

Passing through.

We laughed out loud and from then on Buffalo became Africa. On the phone this morning, Jan said, "Ah, you had become deeply rooted there, Tam."

Passing through Africa as a very young woman; Israel as a growing young adult; Buffalo as a maturing woman. Each time observing a new culture and learning the ropes. Wondering how to behave and what to say and never, really, getting it right. What is right when one is passing through?

I think I have turned a corner. When we drove back into Chestnut Hill last night I sighed happily, stretched my arms upwards and yawned. "Hm mm. Home," I said. Tom looked at me and smiled. "Chestnut Hill is home?" he said. "Yes," I replied.

Comments

[Dan Ramirez]

Tara, I kept getting a message indicating that my post could not be posted. I tried eight times! Guess what!

[Tamar]

Dan - thank you for your eight messages! While trying to delete seven of them I deleted them all by mistake - and it was such a fine message. Please do try and write it again!
Tamar

[Dan Ramirez]

Hey Tara, Thank you for the wonderful "journey" through the gates. My gallery dealer went to the openning and I've yet to hear from him. So this was a real treat.You have a wonderful ambiance and pace to your description.Thanks again for the "journey." Must be a part of mine!
Regards,
Dan

[Richard Lawrence Cohen]

Really nice description and photos, Tamar. I won't get to see the gates themselves and your post has alerted me to pay more attention to them before they come down.

[Tamar]

Richard,
Yeah, I am, glad if I could give you even a glimpse of the "amazingness" of the exhibit!

[David]

Tamar: Really beautiful post and evocative photos. Makes me miss Central Park!
David