{"id":3948,"date":"2019-10-21T18:59:10","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T18:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/?p=3948"},"modified":"2021-05-08T14:40:56","modified_gmt":"2021-05-08T14:40:56","slug":"sacred-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/sacred-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacred Space"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>During summer months, when I park my car behind my building, I will often see my neighbor Paula on her knees, along a very narrow strip of grass by the fence, pulling weeds.<\/p>\n

She loves to garden!<\/p>\n

She\u2019ll be wearing a colorful sweatshirt and clogs in a shade of orange or lavender or turquoise, matching one of the colors featured in the pattern of her leggings.\u00a0 Even the frame color of her eyeglasses will match.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll tease her about this as we\u2019ll catch up on small bits of very local news, things like rodent sightings near our dumpster or recent dining out adventures in nearby Lincoln Square.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat can I say?\u201d she\u2019ll shrug.\u00a0 Referring to her occupation as an interior designer, she\u2019ll add, \u201cI can\u2019t help it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I pulled up to my parking space one day last week,\u00a0 I caught her just straightening up from a pleasant fall afternoon spent digging in the dirt.\u00a0 She was in an orange and black ensemble, suitable for the approach of Halloween, I suppose.<\/p>\n

Having barely stepped out of my car, she took my hand and led me to a little nook under the redwood staircase leading up to the back decks on the second and third floors of our building.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to show you something,\u201d she said<\/p>\n

In this small area, where my downstairs neighbors might keep a non-motorized scooter used by one of their kids and where I\u2019ll be storing a shovel soon enough, Paula hung a fall decoration; something of her own design.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m usually not into folksy things. (Never buy me a basket and try to convince me that they\u2019re wonderful for storing TV remotes.). I\u2019m certainly not into churchy things.<\/p>\n

But, the very sight of how she decorated this small space, seemed to cover me with a sweet quilt of quiet.<\/p>\n

Along a wooden post, she hung a distressed metal chapel frame, about eighteen inches high. It bore different layers of paint, as if its owner could not make up her mind whether it should be painted or left a natural, rusted color.<\/p>\n

A wire structure, jutted out from the bottom.\u00a0 It held a small vessel filled with dried or plastic flowers, in golden tones, and a flat dish which held a small elongated pumpkin.<\/p>\n

I could also make out the silhouette of a heart made up of gathered tree stems. The brownish color of the heart blended into the background of this space under the staircase.\u00a0 Late afternoon light penetrated this usually forgotten place, and it really felt like I was in a sacred space.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

She explained,\u00a0 \u201cI wanted to show you this was here because you might miss it if you didn\u2019t know to look for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

I had to think about what makes a place a sacred<\/strong> space.<\/strong><\/p>\n