Three weeks ago I wrote a post wondering about parallel universes as I watched spring unfold while my brother began to come back to life after many weeks on a ventilator. Today I’m convinced that these parallel universes are multiple phenomena working in concert, connected and communicating, in our boundless, big, beautiful world.

During the past few weeks I’ve watched our yard, gardens, and woods transform from gray to bright green, from sparse to bursting with leaves and life. During these same few weeks my brother has transformed from totally dependent on life support to sitting up, eating, talking, and no longer on life support. Like our gardens and woods, he still has a long way to go before he is in full form again, but his progress has been nothing short of remarkable. I cannot ignore the parallels between his recovery and spring’s emerging life forms around me.

In February, after he was first diagnosed with COVID-19 and put on life support, I would go sit down by our creek here at Pokeberry Pines, wondering about his fate and seeking comfort to ease my worries and fears. The trees were still naked then, showing their winter skeletons. The weather was cold and rainy most days. It felt as bleak and dreary outside as I felt inside. It felt like life had simply stopped.

By the end of March a few of the trees leaves were budding and the weather turned warmer and sunny. I sat by the creek and looked up, and my mood shifted – brightening up with the weather and the new buds. Even though brother was still unconscious, he was beginning to show a few signs of improvement – like the trees, a few signs of coming back to life.

This week, I looked up and saw almost no sky above. The tree leaves have opened and their brilliant green shapes now sprinkle shade on the forest floor below. Life is abundant and apparent at every turn. This week I got to hear my brother’s voice on the phone for the first time in 64 days. Parallel universes. Parallel experiences. Everything is connected to everything else. We are all a part of this universe and there are things going on all the time that we don’t realize until we pay attention to them.

My brother’s recovery and spring’s universal explosion of life around me are my reminders to pay attention, to be grateful, to live in the moment, to find joy in all the connections in the universe, and to send love out to all the living beings with whom I share this life and space. I hope you are paying attention, finding connections, living in the moment, and being grateful, too.

What parallel transformations are you seeing in your universe today?