A watery question for bear bloggers!
Intrepidina the cricket stowaway in my suitcase made a ‘new leap forward’. She crossed an ocean, was cooped up in a suitcase and nearly died getting to her destination.
Crickets, in China, are symbols of nobility, good luck and abundance. Also – of old – the Chinese considered crickets to be reborn relatives and would construct cages to keep them in – hence the title of this chapter, Cage.
I, too, was caging myself in convenience, relying on my fiancé Chris for transport, as well more than I cared to admit when it came to keeping my bank balance a pale shade of pink rather than glaring red.
It was not for a lack of trying to ‘make it’. I was jumping from one project to another in futile attempts to find the best poetic or tea related money-making ventures, and ignoring the two things I craved more than anything: freedom and solitude.
In addition, without a car, paying regular visits to ‘our mum and dad’ involving a minimum five hour journey. I had to take in all the delights that public transport can offer - bus, coach, rail, tube, and rail again. Life became an utterly debilitating charade. My chronic fatigue regularly sent messages that this was unsustainable… which I also ignored.
But our hidden heart’s desires will come to us… although not necessarily in the way we anticipate.
I sensed something had to change, but all I had to go on was the advice from crickets and grasshoppers as summed up by Ted Andrews,
‘Trust your inner voice.’
That was difficult when it seemed to whisper one thing one minute and another in the next.
Taking us from 2013 into 2014 is a water fowl who finds it as hard to fly as a chicken, and who you will likely associate with foolishness as soon as you discover who she is.
Who is my next bird? You can e-mail me at wildrhyminglizzie@gmail.com - like many bear bloggers, I LOVE receiving mail.
#cricket #quiz #symbolism