JulieLeung.com: a life told in tidepools

John Perry Barlow’s daughter, Amelia, suffered an intense accident while traveling in Europe earlier this month. His post told what it was like to visit her in Austria.

We spent Christmas in the barrens of a German-speaking hospital, Amelia in pain and myself in panic, receiving no gifts beyond one another’s continued presence on this mortal plane. Which, under the circumstances, seemed a royal abundance.

But the great gift of this utterly unanticipated moment was Amelia’s side-kick, the winsome Stephan Zaffalon, along with his startlingly dear little family.

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Our instantaneous inclusion into their dense unit has been a blessing that almost balances the misfortune of this incident. I feel sure I’ll know these folks forever and they make me feel as though forever had already come to pass. My primary current goal is to learn how to accept unconditional love, and I am certain that these people will be great teachers in that curriculum.

This last sentence John Perry Barlow wrote spoke to me about my own life. I too am learning how to accept unconditional love. Gifts often come with wrapping paper and bows…and strings attached. Love without limits amazes me. It’s a true gift. I don’t know how to take it. I don’t know how to accept it when someone accepts me as I am. Unconditional love is warm and filling, like a bowl of stew for a December supper. It’s a candle flame in darkness and moonlight at midnight. Unconditional love is defiant and defining. It reveals goodness and grace. It is a big boomerang of generosity. It inspires me to pour love onto others with reckless joy…with wild abandon…and without limit or restriction.

Thinking of you, John Perry Barlow, and praying peace, comfort and healing for you and your family. Blessings to you all. May you know more and more unconditional love in and through each other.