Hera is at home

Sometime around solstice, when I was still in shock from the sleeper wave that destroyed my marriage, my good friend Donald suggested that I work with Hera. Looking around my home, with its rich reds and abundance of peacock feathers, I realized that Hera already had been welcomed here. Today, she really established residency.

I’d taken the day off to spend with one of my newest friends. She turned 60 today and asked me to spend the day with her. How could this offer be refused? I rescheduled or cancelled clients and freed up my calendar to celebrate my friend.

Yesterday it stormed all day. This morning, the sky was still grey and overcast. After doing a tarot reading at her house, we drove valiantly across the Golden Gate Bridge and climbed through the fog up Mount Tam, until we were above the clouds , seemingly alone on the wet and glistening mountain. As we hiked, we alternately viewed swirling fog below us and the beautiful panorama of life which is the San Francisco Bay.

Crows cawed at us and turkey vultures swooped down to check us out. I cried, over and over again, “We are not dead, YET!” Getting older is daunting. I just turned 55, and my friend is a bit in shock about being 60. There's a point when your realize you are no longer middle age, as certainly we probably won't be living until 110 or 120.

After our hike, when we descended the mountain we stopped at her favorite antique shop in Marin, set back amidst beautiful gardens and clerked by an odd assortment of older women. We meandered around the store, her finding some crystal candlesticks discounted by half, me finding some sweet china teacups perfect for holding the dark chocolate pot de crème I love to make.

At the counter, a bust of what seemed to be an ancient Goddess caught my eye. Aphrodite? No, right there on the tag , it said Juno, Goddess of the Heavens. I know who Juno is. She’s just another name for Hera.

So, now Hera, for a very reasonable price, has taken up residence in my home. She is not the Goddess of the Heavens. She is the Goddess of my Home.

She tells me that taking off from work to celebrate a friend’s birthday was exactly the right thing to do. She also reassures me that not every marriage can be saved and that edging into old age really isn't that bad.

Today proved that Hera has my back, that life will continue to unfold and friendships will continue to be made and deepened. I am not dead yet, and probably won’t be for a while. Until I am, I will be celebrating the births of people I love and paying attention to when the Gods make their appearance.

They do, you know. On mountain tops and in cluttered antique stores. The trick is paying attention. Today, I did.