Leap… and a net will appear

I read that on a sign while sipping tea one wet Sunday morning in October in my favourite café in Gavirate.  I went home and wrote it on our blackboard and re-read it every day for weeks.  It turned in my head and nibbled at my thoughts. 

Other forces were at work too… Emily was restless at school, I was bouleversée by some recent events, new horizons at work were beckoning and I was puzzling about how to fit all these craggy elements together in harmony.

Leap… Can you? Should you? Dare you? What's to lose?  What's to gain?  Measuring, weighing, lip biting…

An idea starts to formulate.  We discuss it.  We discuss it more seriously.  We stay up late discussing, imagining, laughing nervously at the boldness of it all.

We make a list of those whose 'permission' we would need and we start to share the plan.  It follows a pattern that I have seen before. Dream big.  Ask for what you wish for – the worst that can happen is a no.  But yes follows yes. Green lights blinker. Lots of surprise.  Even more support.

We make the outlines of the net that would catch us if we leap. It seems robust, back up layers interwoven. We test it tentatively – it holds.  And now…

LEAP.

Le grá,
Gill