The delicate bindweed vine wrapping itself around the flowering mint stem catches my eye one recent morning as I take a breath in and reflect on grace and exhale the breath out reflecting on joy. The reflective breathing is part of my daily walking meditation. Symbiosis, from the Greek sumbiosis ‘a living together’, from sumbioun ‘live together’, from sumgios ‘companion’. The two plants are companions on the journey growing together towards the light. As we have shared our dream and endeavor with friends and colleagues over the past two months, the response has been, “We want to help!” It is time for me to pause and count our blessings.
How could we launch a service that relies on heavy internet usage with our home’s current terribly poor satellite service? Then, our neighbor offered his cottage in the woods to use as our filming studio which resolved our internet service as his cottage has a reliable and faster line-of-sight connection to the web. Suddenly, our connectivity issue was solved and the “Blue Cottage” provided us the space we didn’t even realize we would need! Our presence there has resolved his concern of care for his cottage as he cannot visit due to COVID 19. As we opened the door we realized, that in his absence, a community of mice had taken over the unused cottage and had gladly made it their home. A few days of cleaning and ridding the cottage of its little inhabitants transformed the place into a wonderful home for Montessori. Our commute to work now is a short shady walk through our woods passing the foraging turkeys, frolicking gray squirrels, scurrying ground squirrels, and darting lizards.
Since we had decided not to return to our classrooms this school year, we were concerned that our access to Montessori materials for filming lessons would cease. In a wonderful act of symbiosis, The Head of School offered us use of the materials in exchange for our lesson videos that would benefit the families of the school. This was one more gift of support and affirmation for our work. Gratitude wells within us each time we take a trip back and forth from home to school with a new load of materials.
We are extremely grateful for our daughters’ internet expertise and constant encouragement. Quietly, behind the scenes, she provided the research and guidance for our website and helped us launch into the world of website designing and development. Her experience, both as a mom and businesswoman has given us constant practical assistance.
Another friend who works in the computer industry helped us with the purchase of a new cellphone to record all video lessons and new computers to edit the recordings and to develop the website.
Shortly after we began, we realized we would need legal counsel. Our close friend jumped in and set up a pro bono meeting with his friend, who is a top legal consultant to an international software company. That short meeting helped us understand some of the pitfalls that await us and how to avoid them. Our cousin, an amazing tax and business attorney, guided us through the process of setting up a limited partnership and wrote up and filed the corporate papers we needed.
Like the bindweed, in its journey to find the light, we are abundantly grateful for our quiet supportive companions that lift us up on the journey. Without their gifts, which they have so graciously offered, we would still be crawling.
Breathe in grace, breathe out joy.
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