A Dialogue Begins

In February 2010, I spent the month at my brother’s then property on Siesta Key. He offered his home to me while he was away working elsewhere. My parents, living nearby in Venice, were having some health issues. Back home in Doylestown, my life had become a bit crazy. I was overwhelmed with career demands and deadlines, and a long-term relationship had reached a place that felt less nourishing and more exhausting. Even the February northeast weather seemed to be working against me. The Blue Cottage, which always felt like a place of celebration and expansion, had begun to feel more like a place of isolation and suffocation.

I needed a change of scenery.

The timing was perfect. I took the Auto Train so I could bring my car and spent the month managing my business from my brother’s lovely garden, working under the warm Florida sunshine, and checking in on my parents. Nothing about the work or the relationship I had temporarily left behind in Doylestown had changed, but somehow the environment made it all feel easier. Knowing my parents were close by, and being able to check in on them, gave me a sense of ease.

In the garden stood a laughing Buddha.

At first, as I went about my days, he seemed to taunt me. As the days passed, I began to understand that he had a message for me.

One day I placed the mermaid on his shoulder, sat back, and began to relax. I thanked him.

Laughing Buddha Visual Poem is available as greeting card, magnet and bookmark.

“She settles, sunning on the shoulder of a laughing Buddha” became a sketchbook entry—and the beginning of a dialogue I would come to have with "speaking" garden statues and the things that call to me during beach walks.

16+ years later, and this entry remains with me. A reminder to look for the joy of the laughing Buddha. The calm he can bring is settling.