4. A Sanctuary For The Refugees

Jackie is receiving the revelations of the river. Her family is more present than ever. But, the forest is catching fire near her house... Climate change is a reality. She recalls her arrival in 2017 with her cat, Mitaine, her waitressing job, and her first evacuation because of another forest fire, in 2017.

Her sensitivity is at its peak, she can feel the distress of the animals and the other humans all around her. Will she be able to find a way to invite more balance in her emotions... Mother Nature is there again, with a solution.

Music by Rahul Popawala, North Indian Alleys.

Transcript

Yoni,

My Sacred Space,

Chapter 4.

Disclaimer.

This is a survivor's diary.

Her experience is unique and personal.

In sharing it,

She reveals the path she took to open up to life after a series of early griefs.

It's not a recipe to be applied,

But rather the chronicle of her gradual awakening.

Dear listeners,

This story may affect sensitive people.

If you are experiencing hard times,

Please seek the help you need without any delay.

Yannick Villeneuve,

Author and narrator.

June 29,

2021.

Revelations from the River.

In 1860,

The Ablates' fathers,

Coming from the East,

Asked to the people what was the name of the river they were living around.

They said it was Noir-Cuisenne.

They established a mission there and gave another name to the river.

They called it Lance-aux-Sables.

And then many English-speaking pioneers followed and found it difficult to pronounce,

So they renamed it Mission Creek.

The original meaning of its name could be translated in smoothing stones.

The property of the water from there have been known since the dawn of time,

Before we were all afflicted with amnesia.

During our meeting yesterday,

I asked the river how to heal my wounds.

She replied,

With more love.

Keep it up.

It's beautiful.

I'm inside you now.

I'm alive through you.

I'm talking,

And you're making me do things I love.

And at the same time,

Through you,

I'm learning to worry less,

To let go.

The three of us are up here,

Watching you live,

Each of us happy to see your progress.

Don't worry.

Everything's going to be fine.

We are proud of you.

Suddenly I feel less alone.

I know that my family is reunited around and within me.

July 4th,

2021.

While meditating this morning,

I invited my paternal grandmother to join me.

I revisited the decorative plate she had bequeathed me in her will,

Along with the crucifix from the family home and $500.

It's funny because this week I've been looking forward to having a thumb knife.

At one point,

I hear my grandmother say,

There's no better gardening tool than your thumb.

The expression green thumb suddenly makes sense.

Like a temporary tattoo,

The pigments are incorporated into the skin for the duration of the harvest.

I've got a new tool in my trunk,

The green thumb.

The card suggests that everything is on the table,

The magician.

No matter what choice I make,

The lovers.

On one side is the one who stands still and walks slowly,

The hermit.

On the other,

The one who masters the beast and opens its mouth,

The strength.

Both options lead to the same result,

The end of the cycle through its happy fulfillment,

The world.

So it's up to me to assemble the ingredients and create my own magic potion.

July 6,

2021.

I'm in shock.

An out-of-control fire broke out near my house yesterday.

I knew it was serious,

But I did nothing.

I'm trying to find the balance between feeling guilty and letting go in the face of the elements.

Yesterday afternoon,

We went to cool off in our secret hideaway by the river.

Phil had gone off to explore while I dipped my feet in the water,

Sitting on a small sand bank.

Suddenly,

A column of white smoke rose up,

Straight,

Intense,

And rolling.

It was a very brief vision,

And then the cloud began to resemble all the others.

But something told me it wasn't normal.

Turning back to the trail that took us to the small dam,

I saw a bear running from the mountain.

The intensity of his stride and his speed told me he was running away from the fire.

Like a sponge,

I absorbed his panic and distress.

Ever since,

I've been seeing that animal in my head,

Gnawing at myself with remorse.

Phil reported to me that apparently a team of tree planters were working very close to where the fire started,

And that they had continued to plant despite the flames.

What a paradox.

The outside temperature reached 42 degrees Celsius that day.

The fire devoured the parched vegetation in a flash.

It picked up enough speed to climb to high altitude from where it was almost extinguished.

Instead of dense forest,

The blaze ran into moss and swamp.

Phil and other operators were hired to support the work of the firefighters with their heavy equipment.

The strategy is to encircle the fire by building a guard.

Within two days,

The barrier should be complete.

I've just heard the voice of reason in my head telling me that when the firemen arrived,

The fire was too strong to do anything.

They were forced to back away.

I understand there's nothing more I could have done.

To take my mind off things,

I went strawberry picking.

They're tiny.

I only picked a small container,

And it took me a lot longer than last year's harvest.

They are very ripe and aromatic.

The strawberries are almost cooked,

And as I crouched down through the vines,

I could smell the Barbapapa.

My gardens have fared well thanks to my geothermal blankets.

Some urban gardeners have suffered losses up to 80%.

They're not taking advantage of the nighttime respite offered by the mountains.

Summer's going to go like that by the fire.

July 6th,

Anniversary date.

In 2017,

I arrived here for good.

I parked my black Subaru WRX in the backyard and brought Miten into her new home.

To ensure my economic survival,

I asked the owner of a restaurant I'd already worked at to hire me for the summer season.

By email,

She guaranteed me a full-time position as soon as I arrived.

After a romantic weekend,

I went back to work on Monday morning.

I took over the waitressing job I'd held 17 years earlier.

It was a new location,

More spacious,

But the menu was the same,

A mix of traditional Chinese and Canadian cuisine.

But what made this restaurant special was the group banquet service exclusively targeted to the clientele of Asian bus travelers.

Luckily,

Grace and the Filipino team were there to make the job more human.

The shock between my still-Quebec physiology and my new Western reality was mostly felt by my gastric system.

It took me three months to rebuild my gut system.

Because of my job,

I was rubbing shoulders with hundreds of people from the Asian continent every day.

The restaurant was located on the highway between Vancouver and the Rockies,

So the Lotus Garden was a perfect stop for a traditional meal in a hurry.

My colleagues and I could serve 300 people in an hour and a half.

I'd get up at 5 a.

M.

With Phil just to see each other for a while.

I'd leave the house around 10 o'clock only to return a dozen hours later.

All this in the smoke of forest fires and the heat of concrete.

A fire had broken out that summer along the highway leading to the house.

Within hours,

We were under evacuation orders.

Leaving home in a hurry,

We didn't take much except mitten.

The evacuation lasted four nights.

We ended our stay in one of the city's luxury hotels.

We continued to work while feeling a mixed bag of emotions.

Hotel life created a false sense of vacation.

Even as we sipped cocktails by the pool,

The thought of losing everything we had was always in our minds.

After the first night,

I went to the center to register for emergency assistance.

A French-speaking volunteer was assigned to me to help fill the registration forms.

I was crying so hard that a lady offered me a nice pack of tissues.

I was going through a tragedy.

I had to part with my cat.

There were no more rooms available that would also accept animals.

Mitten,

My companion of the last 17 years,

Would have to stay at the center in a cage with all the other pets.

A two-day period was covered by government assistance.

We were given the keys to a large room with a landing in a kitchenette.

It was big enough for the three of us,

And silently I cursed the regulations.

As the fire was still not under control after two days of fighting,

We had to register and change accommodation.

Back to the evacuee center,

Waiting for our number,

I got up from the waiting room and went to see Mitten in the animal room.

When I opened the door,

I immediately saw her,

But also the multiple stickers affixed to the bars of her cage.

It was written,

Danger.

Don't pet.

Nasty cat.

I opened her cage door.

She came to me and I took her in my arms.

A volunteer came out to warn me that she was biting and scratching.

But when she saw her purring,

She slabbed an apology and explained that Mimi had really missed me,

That she'd been sick,

That she'd done her business everywhere but in her litter box,

And that she'd bitten and scratched the volunteers who tried to help her.

After feeding and petting her,

I went to tell Phil about my adventure.

As I told him,

I got a glimpse of the lady who had just spoken to me walking over the big table and talking to what seemed to me to be one of the admissions officers.

Knowing that the animals would be moved that evening to a boarding facility at a local veterinary hospital,

The volunteers,

Having seen my cat's condition deteriorate over the days,

Arranged for us to be reunited.

The hoteliers had taken the trouble to place a basket of treats on each of the king-size beds in our room.

This included chocolates for me and catnip cookies for Mimi.

When the evacuation notice was lifted,

We were able to return home.

Guys from the army were responsible for guarding our neighborhood,

And we were surprised to find our house clean,

The dishes done,

And our plants watered.

I now know that there is still compassion in the world.

July 8,

2021 Why do I suffer?

To help others.

To grow.

To learn.

To feel happy.

To actualize myself.

Can I accept myself as I am without changing a thing?

Yes,

Finally.

I accept to be a new woman,

To get out of the extreme zone of my yang,

To express the qualities of my yin.

Am I ready to look a child in the eye and commit to a relationship of unconditional love?

I feel an hesitation,

But I know I have the potential to embody a nurturing land.

July 10,

2021 My 30-day course is drawing to a close.

I feel a progression within me.

I'm more undulating,

More feminine.

I now express this through the way I move and I grasp things with my hands.

It's lighter,

More delicate,

More sensual.

I'm experiencing the power of meditation coupled with that of the water from there.

Since I've been drinking it,

My body has slimmed down.

It presents the world with a new version of myself,

A healthier mind in an healthy body.

I feel the water softening my inner forest.

My liver is cleared of deposits of grief and abandonment.

My menstrual cycle is less intense.

The chemical signals are transported better through my body.

If I feel discomfort,

Instead of suffering,

I climb into my excavator and tackle the resistance.

I work at it until I feel calm and comfort inside.

Just then I can move on to the other activities,

Like going shopping.

I had to stop by the specialty store for small farms and gardening.

As soon as I pulled open the glass door,

I could tell the energy was weird.

All the employees wore masks,

Despite the recent lifting of the requirement.

Some were gathered in a corner of the store,

As if holding a secret meeting.

Another was frantically disinfecting the checkout counter.

Another was in charge of the shelves,

As if we were in the middle of a bacteriological warfare.

Suddenly I hear,

I'm the store manager,

And I'm asking you to get out of the bathroom now.

I realize what's happening.

I can't believe it.

It's here too,

In my favorite store.

Paying for my articles,

The cashier confides in me that this is the second day that someone has used their toilet,

For want of a better word.

Yesterday it took the police to deal with the situation.

Her eyes were filled with fear and insecurity.

This other global health crisis affects us all,

But sadly,

Our reactions to its victims are less compassionate,

I would say.

Sometimes it weighs me down to be aware of everything that's going wrong in the world.

I often come back from my trips to the city feeling sad,

Depressed,

And powerless.

I feel the pain as soon as I walk through the door outside the house.

For the sake of my balance,

I know I can't carry all this weight on my shoulders any longer,

Otherwise I will collapse.

I have to choose a cause,

And for my actions to be effective,

This cause must be linked to what affects me directly.

I have very little power to alleviate the stress in the city,

But if I concentrate on my own,

I can bring together many conditions to help my surroundings.

So for the trees,

For the animals,

And for us,

I'm devoting my energy to build a sanctuary.