283 Marbles...And Counting

283 Marbles
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
Albert Einstein

    This morning I  conducted an audit of my marbles – not something I do everyday -  just a physical count to see that I didn’t miss a day of dropping a marble into the garden. 
    My eldest son came into the room and asked what I was doing.  When I told him, he said, “That’s a bit OCD, Mom.”  “I know,” I answered.
    My daughter joined in and said, “You’re crazy,” (in the most loving way possible). 
    My youngest son entered and started playing with the marbles as they were spread out on my duvet.  I became slightly anxious at the thought of my marbles rolling on the floor and being used as a game (tee hee, I do see the irony here). I told him, “You can play with the marbles that are outside, but the ones inside are mine.” He looked at me curiously because I’m usually a good sharer.
    So, I know that the marbles are a bit obsessive compulsive and a tad crazy, plus I get that marbles really are for playing with, but I hope that my kids see this eccentricity of mine as a coping strategy.  They see me functioning in every other way and the marble thing is usually part of my life, not theirs.
    The marbles are my meditation.  My mudra of change.

I write this from five years down the road, Dear Reader: If you haven’t become part of the marble movement, you may consider doing it by going to the dollar store and purchasing your own.  I guarantee that if you discard a marble a day for 365 days, your life will feel better when that last marble drops.  My earliest marbles post breakup were raw and therapy-like.  As the year progressed, the marbles became lighter, marble-seeds for the new life that I’ve built for myself and my kids.