Daryl Wood's Blog

While visiting a friend for a few days I came up with a plan to reorganize my office so I could have my yoga mat on the floor full time with space for meditation and reflection. Since I’m not ‘officing’ much anymore it was a good idea only slightly (it seemed in my thoughts) complicated by the large table that held craft supplies and paperwork I hadn’t filed. No big deal. Until it was.

In order to make the changes I would need to put the craft stuff somewhere else. A cupboard upstairs would be perfect and near the kitchen table where crafting on the rare occasions I did it could comfortably be done. Except that the cupboard was full of photographs, frames and memorabilia. The sorting began and morphed into several other spaces until they finally landed me in my office closet where I spent good chunks of yesterday. Piling up miscellaneous and outdated photos and paperwork for commercial shredding I sat with the stack of file folders from the Women’s Wisdom Retreats I led for 17 years. Each folder held registration forms, menus, schedules, notes and feedback pages. Everything began to move into the bag for shredding to protect the privacy of my clients and eliminate outdated information. I took my time thinking about each group, each woman and what we had learned together. As I glanced at the feedback pages I decided I would keep these because it was comforting to know how many women left here with hope, inspiration, self-awareness and self-confidence. I knew I would enjoy reading them again. In between the pages were occasionally cards that had been sent at a later date and this is when I paused and gulped.

In a variety of handwriting so many women wrote about Doug. In the early retreats he was very present sharing dinner with us all, helping them build little boats and getting cars ready for the trip back home. Eventually he was only a shadow on the outskirts ready to help if needed (he did most of the kitchen clean up) and staying out of sight to give our guests the time and freedom they needed to pursue their inner awareness. The little notes I was now reading showed that he had a positive impact with his kindness and humour. I had forgotten how much I depended on him to pull off these events. He would often joke to me that I made about $5.00 an hour considering how much time and energy I invested before, during and after the retreats. His income from his shared responsibility was even less! It was definitely a labour of love for me and he fully supported what I offered because I felt so privileged to be trusted by women from literally around the world.

Ironically it was Doug who was the reason I stopped in the fall of 2017 when his medical needs were too sporadic to be certain there would be no interruption. As I read the cards and reflected on the retreat experience I told Doug how proud I was of us for doing good work together. We made it happen and the success (and sometimes failures) were a product of our dedication as a team.

I wouldn’t have guessed that finding a way to have my yoga mat set up would lead to this experience. I’m so glad it did. As hard as it was to let go of that past it was touching to know he made a difference. Not surprising but for sure it gave my heart a warm glow.