A Unicorn Story

I was running down the street, trying to tell my husband one last thing, as he slowly careened left, out of view, when I beheld the site of a unicorn: a little girl whose face glows with light, who, one year invited me to her birthday party, which was, at that very moment, under way. She is the grand child of the woman who with whom I communicated beyond language, and who taught me the word for dragonfly in Polish.

I had promised this little unicorn that she could have some lemon balm from my garden, as on an earlier occasion our paths had crossed as I was delivering one for my friend that lives within a few houses of hers, and she’d asked if she could make the delivery herself. I told her if she ever wanted one, I had several she could choose from in my garden and that she could stop by. On this occasion, she asked her mother, who was just behind her, if it would be alright if she walked to my house with me to get it, as offered. Her mother agreed, and as the little unicorn and I skipped side by side toward where I live, her slowly caught up with us at a leisurely pace. The little unicorn told me something about superheroes. Superheroes is trending, as

Antonia Lyons

beautifully wrote about on her page. I asked Divine Mother for a super sign yesterday when. was having a tough spot, and I was guided to a sign a wrote years ago, at the beginning of the censorship. It says “All Way Win Solutions. Calling All Superheroes.” I had been led to put it out of visible range in the backyard garden, and at the moment of my prayer, my attention was turned to it. Literally a sign.

I had already showed the little unicorn the container of lemon balm I thought she might like, alongside a few others, and asked if she would indeed like the one had in mind. She nodded, delighting in the semi precious stone nestled in the dirt, as well as the tiny baby lemon balms growing next to a larger one that was branching out joyfully, clearly well established and likely to do well if they plant it as an outdoor perennial. When her mother came along side her, we began to chat. This is the woman who joined late, my conversation with the first lemon balm recipient the other day, when I needed to have an ugly cry after someone was basically a bitch to me over their smugly held pandemic views with no space to listen to mine, despite knowing that my husband is a physician and I am extremely well-informed on the relevant research. The woman who stood alongside me on the sidewalk by my yard is the one who, with great compassion said, “Some people are shitheads.” And I replied, “She is a good person, but she acted like a shithead.” That good person with the shithead behavior that to her was probably not even shithead behavior (it probably just made sense to her) has a license plate that says fuck off in Italian. I have been tempted to say that to her, but I pray blessing for her. I pray for more grace to forgive her, knowing that she truly does not know what she does or how programmed she is to be unable to listen to another view with an open heart and mind, regardless of her own tightly held construct of what seems righteously right to her. I have compassion for her. I am not over it. I hope someday it has a happy ending like the story I shared about my old neighbor/friend in The Dinner Date. Regardless, I expect to be over it by next summer. Maybe sooner. Maybe tomorrow. You can’t rush these things, but you can open to letting them go and cultivate spaciousness around them. There is a lot of trauma for me around people I thought here friends whose programming led them to dismiss me, attack me or be silent toward me when I could really have used support, acknowledgement or a liberally minded person to say, “You know, I don’t see it the same way you do, but it’s not acceptable for your views to be silenced or for people to be unkind to you or for official or unofficial influencers to try to paint a picture of you that is easy to dismiss or dehumanize.” I have SO wanted someone who is pro vax, pro lockdown to actually act like a liberal and say those exact things to me. To be a liberal is to support free speech even when you feel uncomfortable with what someone is saying. That is the point. To be liberal, at least as I understood it until about 2016 was to support calling out corporate interests, saying NO to GMOs, standing with STANDING ROCK, fighting transnational policies that take away from the sovereignty of nations apart from corporate interests and standing up for kindness for dissenters, for human rights, to expose corruption, for being compassion to people who lie at the margins of what is considered acceptable to society. ‘Come on, liberals,” I sometimes want to scream and shout. “Where is your LIBERAL-NESS?”

As I stood there chatting with the mom who validated my feelings when I needed it so much, she admired my elderberry bush, which is starting to berry out. She told me how she almost bought the house across the street before we moved in. Its the same house where my old neighbor friend use to live. We chatted about how most people can agree on the ideal - local communities where people truly love and take care of one another - but disagree on what to do about the world in its current form.

As we were talking, a little beetle crawled up the mom’s dress. Her daughter said, “Oh look, it’s a lady bug!” The mom looked at her with a serious face and said, “I think it’s actually an Asian beetle.” The daughter said, as many innocent ones who have not explored the darker side of things, “No, it’s a lady bug.” I looked at it and said, “It’s definitely, as I can tell, an Asian Beetle. That is exactly like the democrats! They get everyone to think they are a lady bug, but really they are an Asian Beetle!”

My friend smiled and chuckled. “You’re right.”

The Republicans are just right out in your face with the nasty stuff. But, Jesus said it matters what is on the inside, not how shiny the outside. And that is why it takes more discernment to see through the illusory appeal of the liberal side as the kinder, more compassionate party.

As the quote from “Killing the Priest-King” shows, we can have a compassionate, cooperative society without a ruling class. The whole article is worth reading.

Earlier today, before I ran into my unicorn friend, my husband and I were getting ready to head out the door for brunch when I saw a mom and younger children approaching, with something like a clipboard or handheld paper, I wasn’t sure which.

I chose to be direct yet kind with the mom and kids. I got the dog leashed and headed out first, with my husband close behind. I said kindly, “We’re not available, and we have a dog that we need to. Thank you.” I then proceeded to make my way through my own step past them, which allowed them to part for me. The mom initially sought to continue interacting despite the clear message I shared with word and body, saying, “We’re from the democrat….” I got in my car with dog and hubby. As we drove away, she called, “We love Unicorn Drive!” I answered, “I’m glad. ENJOY!” And she did. She and the children with her enjoyed looking at the newly chalked love-wording on the sidewalk as they made their way onward.

“You are worthy.” “Love All.” “” “YOUR JOY MATTERS.”

Of course, sometimes we are joyful, and tired light workers, like I am in this picture. After all, we’ve already had many adventures, energetic and physical today!

The mom of my unicorn friend has a Republican friend with whom she agrees on many things. My friend votes democrat for the same reason everyone else in my community does- because she believes in voting for the person she thinks is the lesser of evils. But this friend knows they are all backed by the same groups and individuals - for example, Silicon Valley people who all share technocratic ideals. I am no longer interested in politics because it is clear to me whoever wins will be a different head of the beast, and I would rather spend my time loving life, loving my neighbors and tending the garden of my heart. But let it be known, I do not consent to anyone who will be elected this fall. I consent to co-create all way win solutions with my super hero friends, beyond the false limits imposed.

I consent to be a vessel for God to use as God sees fit to birth heaven on earth, regardless of seeming external circumstances.

P.S. I saw my unicorn friend with her little brother and their awesome nanny when I suddenly got the nudge to pop out for a little walk on October 14, 2024, a bit after this original post. The little unicorn told me with a big smile, “The Lemon Balm WORKS!” I asked her how so and she described how it kept the mosquitos away - the flew toward it, sniff sniffed it and flew off in the opposite direction.

P.P.S. I have forgiven the woman who wasn’t able to hold space for my views. I still feel arrrghy about the issue and the experience but I no longer feel anything but love for her and a person. I’ve also had more nice people come to my door whom I did feel aligned to share with and it was a very positive experience. It was analogous in its own way to the story I posted last year, with the painting my neighbor did.

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