Before leaving for a long-overdue walk yesterday, I put on a baseball cap and a large mask—one that I can barely see over. Then our rescue cat Calla suddenly appeared at my feet and looked up at me. In a split second I panicked that she would be frightened by my concealed appearance. But Calla looked at me like she always does—softly and sweetly, with total recognition, completely tuned in to my energy as usual.
When I stepped outside, I saw a UPS driver unloading boxes and asked if he had one for my apartment. I’d been waiting weeks for a package of hard-to-find, once-lost, takes-forever-to-ship rice milk, due to arrive that day. (Such deliveries are extremely exciting when you have a super-restricted diet.) The driver told me no but said, “I really wanted to give everyone a present today!” His eyes gleamed with joy above his mask, and I was so surprised to find a thoroughly happy UPS guy in the middle of Brooklyn.
As I walked the neighborhood and avoided any close contact with other masked walkers, I repeatedly checked my phone to update the tracking on my package. Face recognition failed, so I entered in my password and wondered when Apple would come out with an update for mask wearers.
Returning to my building, I noticed another delivery truck outside. As the driver disembarked with one box, I stopped six feet away and asked if it was for me. When he replied yes, I jumped up and down and did a little dance right there on the sidewalk. As he laughed, I realized I’d just let a stranger see the real me, goofiness and all, unable to hold back pure delight.
Last week in my mediumship class on Zoom, my teacher Lisa Williams told us a heart-wrenching story of loss and grief. The entire class grew silent, and despite each of us being in little thumbnails on Zoom, I could feel the group holding extreme compassion and sadness—it was palpable. Then Lisa said she had to show us something and swung the webcam to her left. There sat her dog George on the couch with a heart-shaped pillow in his mouth. He looked directly at us, and it was the most outrageously adorable thing I’d ever seen. The entire class exhaled with delight. In that moment I knew he’d read our energy—no matter how far away we were—and gave us exactly what we needed.
Our current life situation is so scary, and we’re cut off in so many ways—from behind masks to behind cold technology. But maybe that’s forcing us to be more real in the moment. Maybe we’re expressing ourselves and connecting better because we need to compensate for a mask or a digital screen. And maybe this is a sign of our leveling up to more authenticity, understanding, and unconditional love.
I know Calla and George are cheering us on. ❤️