Praying Girl and Katydid

I captured this picture in Kathmandu, Nepal back in 2019. The tiny, lush garden belongs to a boutique hotel nestled high above the city. Verdant grounds, filled with eclectic statues, provided an oasis against the intensity of the metropolis below both bustling and ancient. My professional work involves working with the concept of QI or ENERGY every day, observing it in both nature and people. All places possess an energetic as well. Kathmandu’s is distinctly teeming and venerable.

My dear friend Jude was arriving from India later that day after attending a friend's wedding. I spent the afternoon lazing about the garden capturing bits of the cohabitation between art and nature. Some years before, Jude and I met at our faith community, became dear friends and later travel companions. During those same years, I divorced. She was a Godsend, frequently offering perspective and loving support as I traversed that rocky emotional landscape.

Jude is one of my favorite people! In her seventies, she dives deep emotionally and conversationally, yet somehow possesses the lightness of everlasting youth. In her retirement, after many successful years as an executive, she worked as a job coach with special needs adults. Later, she trained tand became a Spiritual Advisor. On our trips, we'd often go into all those "deep subjects". Most vulnerably, I could share with her my memories of losing two of my triplets many years before.

My kids, two girls and a boy, were born prematurely at 26 weeks. I had a surviving daughter, Sophia, but lost her brother mere hours after their birth. My other daughter, Katy, lived for many months with severe complications due to her prematurity. I had nicknamed her Katy bug or "the Bug" for short. Given her complications and the complex trauma of all that happened, I rarely experienced peace, outside of my joy of Sophia, for many years afterwards. The trauma, guilt, and grief were relentless knowing Katy had suffered so much in her tiny indelible life.

While many years had passed when Jude and I began our adventures together, the subject of the kids always came up. Jude listened patiently, with a marvelous ear and kind presence. Her support encouraged me to grow in faith merely by observing her own beautiful example.

In former trips, we had traversed the entirety of Rt 101 from the Space needle to the California Redwoods. Later, we discovered the magic and majesty of Iceland, where I am certain she captured every single waterfall we encountered along the way. The following year Jude shared how she was heading to Nepal following a wedding in India. She wanted to dive in and explore this ancient land and culture.

Nepal is geographically contained between China and India, akin to a pearl nestled in a shell. Given its location, the culture is replete with multifarious religious and ethnic influences. Each trip we had taken was a bit more of an adventure, a bit further away, and held the possibility of ever more amazement. This trip would be our ultimate adventure. During this time, I found myself squarely in midlife, newly divorced, with a blank canvas before me. My life it seemed had taken so many intense turns and at times I still felt quite lost. Yearning to be spiritually fed while seeking insight, I wanted onboard. There was no way she was going without me!

Nepal is altogether fascinating, humbling, and breathtaking. If you want to experience awe, find the Himalayas. The air felt holy in my lungs. The temple sites, too numerous to count, offered immersion, each a sacred space not merely observe, but embodied. The presence of prayer permeated the land. I’m unsure if I felt the Divine more in the temples, the mountains, or in the faces of the souls we met along the way. Certainly, I found it in the warmth of friendship.

During all our trips. I felt the spirits of my angel kiddos close by. There has never been a day since their passing when I'm without of their cherubic companionship. Flying home, I poured over my pictures while still glowing from another exploration with my dear friend. Reflecting in that moment, I was reminded of how energy feels is embedded in all places. While seeing my praying girl photo, I again felt a kind of Divine kiss upon my forehead. This bug resting upon her praying fingers felt entirely synchronistic.

I hadn’t noticed the little critter whatsoever while taking the shot, feeling mirth seeing her there afterwards. The praying girl feels certain in her belief, while the critter seems along for the faithful ride. I entirely related to this little insect. I had been seeking adventure, but also respite and support on that trip. Nepal became an inflection point in my healing that year. And, Jude, with her deep faith and loving presence, was this Praying Girl for me. She had wanted to visit this reverent land and I too had come along for the faithful ride.

My amateur study of synchronicity reveals they almost always have a unique meaning to an individual. As time went on after the trip, I found the coincidence of this little creature upon praying hands represented other things. She was about what awaited me back home. The picture too represented a leap of faith entirely about Ttrust; trusting myself while knowing the energy of Loving Presence would be there as I moved forward. In this way, I've come to see that I was also the Praying Girl. But, I needed to take the journey, with the kindest of companionship, to reveal that truth. And, in case I ever forgot, I would have this delightful synchronicity to remind me.

But, it wasn't until sitting down and editing this blog that the deepest insights were revealed. This new blog was created as a place where I could share reflections on a variety of spiritual topics, including grief, healing, and the mystical aspects of such unfolding. The energetic concept itself of synchronicity itself feels like a specific calling, as both an honoring of my children and dearest convictions. Deeply and profoundly, I believe our loved ones passed are always among us, frequently communicating via synchronicities. While I chose this photo to write this first blog, I was entirely unaware it contains the exact experience I mean to share.

I've always thought the critter in the photo is a grasshopper. But, as my husband Chris observed me putting the final touches on this blog, he honed in on the photo. His cerulean eyes narrowed. "Honey, that's not a a grasshopper. It's some kind of leaf bug". Chris is so much a part of my future and healing that unfolded after that trip to Nepal. Apropos, he would googled to uncover what kind of "bug" we actually have here. Our eyes met, we shared awestruck smiles.

Because this bug is a Katydid.