Come Together

This morning I went to yoga class, the first one I have been to where I wasn't teaching in many weeks.  I was giddy dropping my children off,  knowing I would get a few hours to myself.  I have loved summer and the freedom I have being home with 3 kids, the time we have to play, the togetherness.  It has also had its challenges - all that togetherness, it seems to lead to bickering, me refereeing and that sometimes exhausts me.
I settled onto my mat to prepare for meditation and my yoga teacher shared a mantra for our practice.  "We are connected to the energy of all things."  I could feel myself softening into my seat, clearing out some space in my mind as I followed my breath in and out, in and out, and recited this seemingly simple mantra to myself.  My teacher spoke of how all of yoga is really about connectedness, the word yoga meaning essentially union, gratitude, awareness of our dependence on others.  It resonated with me and felt easy to let it wash over me, clearing out whatever junk I came in with and creating some space for something easier, a little more free.  There is such freedom in letting go, of relinquishing the idea that I need to do it all.  Realizing that it is not just okay, but it is better when I take time for myself, allow my needs to be met first, and then tend to the other needs in my world. 
I left yoga feeling grateful, whole, and most definitely connected.  I saw a dear student and friend in the parking lot as I walked to the car.  We exchanged hugs and smiles and she headed into the studio as I got into my car.  I could feel myself brimming with joy.  Was it the yoga or the act of doing something for myself?  Probably both, didn't matter.  My in-laws graciously took my children for the morning and I had at least an hour before I needed to get back to pick them up.  I had several errands to run, which are amazingly fast when there aren't 3 little people getting in and out of the car, too.  I pulled up in the parking lot of my son's preschool to deliver his tuition and paperwork and a song on the radio caught my attention.  I turned  off the engine and listened to the lyrics: 
"I got a strong back, steel toes, I'm handy with a wrench.  There is nothing I can't drive, nothing I can't fix.  I work sun-up to sun-down.  Give you 40 and then some.  Three dollars and change at the pump.  Cost of livin's high and goin' up."
It's a song about a family man trying to find a job, selling himself to a potential employer.  My tears were flowing and turned into sobs.  Took 2 tissues to wipe away the tears and pull myself together once the song was over.  Why am I so emotional?  I ask myself.  Am I?  Maybe it's just that I can feel the truth in that story, there are many souls out there looking for work, trying to make a living, trying to feed their families.  Times aren't easy for everyone.  I have much to be grateful for, every gosh darn day.  Sometimes I get caught up in my own world and stop seeing what is around me, stop feeling gracious and giving.  I have to remember to take time for myself, to slow down and reconnect with myself, with that sense of being a small part of something much greater.
I headed off to the grocery store, changed the radio station to Top 40, could feel myself lightening up and by  the time I got to Fred Meyer I was grooving to a new beat, dancing my way down the street (in my car, of course).  "Evacuate the dance floor, I'm infected by the sound...."  Felt like I went from one extreme to the other, not really though.  They are just two sides of the same coin.  Come together...right now...over me