Last Saturday morning, I took our five year old daughter, Maddie, to her art class. As others were arriving,Maddie was sitting at the table and coloring with crayons. I was sitting next to Maddie while she colored, feeling all "om-shanti" after my morning yoga class. I joined the gym down the street so I can take these outrageously hard boot-camp classes along with yoga. I went to a yoga class before Maddie's art class and it left me feeling what you hope for after a yoga class--acutely aware of my surroundings, feeling peaceful, and centered.

I was enjoying the presence of Maddie when I looked down to see what she was coloring. My little gem was finishing up a picture full of spirals (see picture of Sam and Maddie). I watched intently (thanks to yoga) as Maddie finished and I asked about her drawing. Maddie's response was "it's the Milky Way with stars." I was taken by her image of the spiral, the same image named by Louise and Kathleen when asked about the image that reflects their life right now. Both Louise and Kathleen used a spiral image with the spiral created counter-clockwise. To the right is the spiral Kathleen drew during our interview and below is the spiral on Louise's bracelet.

As I watched Maddie finish her spirals, she, too, was drawing her spirals with a counter-clockwise movement. I smiled a heartfelt, OM filled smile and heard the door to the classroom open. I looked up and my yoga teacher from my class that morning walked through the door, bringing in her four year old son.

As one of my former co-workers, Jen McClurg, used to proclaim, "there are no coincidences, there are God-incidences."

Barbara Gerlach used the phrase "connective tissue" as an image of God during our interview. That image came to me as I reflected on Maddie's picture. This sacred, holy, connective tissue weaves together my daughter, Louise, and Kathleen in their creation of spirals and how it connects them to the world around them.

And my yoga teacher walking through the door? We now know each others names, kids names, and a little bit of each others yoga stories.