A young grasshopper.

"Today come to the life-affirming awareness that there's really no such thing as a mistake. It's simply that you'd make a different choice now than the one you did then, even if then was yesterday." - Sarah Ban Breathnach

Yesterday I was touched by an angel - by my book-angel-therapist. I have always been jealous of people who report that they can open a book and come across the exact passage that they need when they need it. Sarah Ban Breathnach talks about going into a used book store and asking to be lead to something wonderful. She usually finds exactly the thing she didn't know she needed. Well I have tried this. I have tried wandering through shops hoping for divine intervention or a kick in the backside but I have always found myself disappointed. But I also have always ended up with a book.

I've got a passion, you see, and it's for books. I love them. I love the way they look, the way they feel, I love the way they smell. There are two places I can go and know that there will be something that delights me. One is an office supply store and the other is a book store. I laughingly call those places "The Mother Ship," because I feel like I belong there amongst writing and writing materials.

So imagine my sadness when I couldn't seem to get the answers I was seeking immediately upon asking. Instead I would be drawn to books and buy them, often sneaking them home and leafing through, or even reading them cover to cover and then feeling slightly let down. Somehow they were just not quite right. So I'd put them on my growing bookshelf(s) and forget about them. Sometimes I would even carry them with me to new homes to put on new bookshelves for no apparent reason.

It was just a few years ago when I began to finally understand how my book-angel-therapist was working. I had purchased a copy of Women Who Run with the Wolves several years before, read through it, and put it away on my shelf. Feeling slightly unhappy one day I found it again and this time I read it cover to cover, making notes and putting in tiny bookmarks. It was exactly what I needed when I needed it! Since then I have realized that many of the books I bought were just entering my life so that they would be there when I was ready for them. Rather than be immediately gratifying, my book-angel-therapist was thinking ahead, knowing me and what exactly I would be ready for someday.

So that is where my head is today as we head out into the world. There is a lovely town near us that is just full of bookstores and lovely shops. I'm excited to see if any books call to me. I know now that you can't rush these things. You can't ask for something and expect it to just happen. You have to trust that all you have is all that you need. Fate and angel-book-therapists work to their own schedule. Young grasshoppers must take it slowly.