All That Matters

How It All Began Once upon a time, many years ago, I remember hearing my parents say, “All that matters is that…” This expression took hold of me and became the watchwords of my life. All that matters is that she is healthy. All that matters is that no one gets hurt. All that matters is that you behave, use your common sense, and get good grades. All that matters is that you rest, relax, and have a good time. All that matters is that you finish school and make something of yourself. All that matters is that you take pride in what you are doing, what you have done, and what you are going to do. All that matters is that you find love and happiness in this cockeyed world. Oh, my name is Emma Epstein. My parents loved alliteration. I also have many university degrees and have traveled extensively around our wonderful world. ************************************************************************************************** Mirror, Mirror On The Wall I awoke with felines curled by my arms. The black one was on the right side and the latte-colored one on my left. Each had a paw resting gently on my arm as though holding on to me. Not really wanting to move, I turned on my side. They obliged me by shifting so that the Siamese type nestled against my back and the black one was resting along the length of my now outstretched arm. I reached toward the night table with my outstretched arm feeling for my watch. I had set the alarm for 7:00 AM, but as it had not gone off, I thought it must have been much earlier. The watch was not there. Thinking the animals had knocked it to the floor during the night I pushed myself towards the edge of the bed, hung my arm down, and felt around the rug. Nothing was on the floor. Not even my slippers. Still full of sleep, I thought maybe I had the room reversed. After all, I had been spending my nights in a variety of hotels, motels, and inns, and maybe my sense memory had become confused, so I turned over, dislodging the other cat and repeated the exercise. Nothing was there. Figuring I was in the middle of a very bad dream, I shut my eyes again trying to regain sleep. It wouldn’t come. After squirming around for a while, the only choice was to get up and find out what was going on. “Okay, you two,” I murmured throwing my legs over the side of the bed. “Let’s see what’s cooking!” I had one cat on each side of me as I groggily attempted to stand up. When I achieved this feat, they both jumped down and followed me as I went first towards the window. Drawing the sheer curtains aside, I looked out over a vast waterway. I had no memory of seeing water from the evening before, and I thought the curtains had been heavier, with the ability to block out the morning light. I dimly remembered the windows faced north and west. This one definitely faced east as the sun was rising. “No. I must be mistaken, right, cats?” They responded with chirrups. “All right, what’s happening? Where are my slippers for one thing and my watch? Did you knock them under the bed?” I said as I returned to the bed and on all fours, took a good long look under the mattress with the cats following my outstretched arms while playing with my hands as they too, crawled under the bed to play the game they thought I was playing. As I righted myself, something struck me as stranger still. The underside of the bed had wires strung across it north to south and east to west. It was definitely not the box spring I noticed last night. And the mattress felt different too, as I used it to pull myself in an upright position. Grabbing the bed linens and pulling them back, the mattress was comprised of two flimsy thin ones; piled one atop the other and the stitching did not look as though any modern machine had made them. I went to the door I remembered led to the bathroom. It was a water cabinet! Not the pristine bathroom I used the evening before. Hurriedly, I splashed water on my face from the ewer, ripped off my nightshirt and hurried into my clothes from the evening before. My ever watchful companions seemed to have their eyes glued to my every move, and as I put my clothes on, each piece changed from what I’d worn yesterday to something from the turn of the century—and not the recent millennium century either! As I turned towards the door, a beautiful standing mirror drew me to look at myself carefully. My hair was gathered on top of my head and I had bangs and soft tendrils surrounding my face. The garment I was wearing was a middle-weight dress designed for horseback riding. A riding crop and pair of gloves were on a table by the exit door. Still shaking my head, I absently picked them up, opened the door, and, with my two feline companions, left the room. ************************************************************************* The franticness of this sequence began long ago—long before the Spruces boarded the ship that brought them to America. I did not recognize the area I was seeing where the first members of this group lived. No language was being heard and the landscape was completely unfamiliar to me. As I said before, I had done extensive traveling throughout our planet, but this was like nothing I’d ever seen. Even the sky was a different color, red with greenish hues, and clouds that were silver. The landscape had many pointed and jagged obelisks surrounding these people and their home. Yet the home was so much like the Everett’s I was taken aback. And this home kept changing as though with the times, having additions added on, walls taken down, and rooms made larger and/or subdivided. My first thought was that this was another planet somewhere and these people came here en masse, as did quite a few of our first cultures after Earth cooled down and became habitable. But those groups came with a different kind of knowledge, knowledge that would enhance the progression of Earth for the most part. I yawned and stretched my arms out wide. When I put them down by my side, they landed upon two cats who twitched considerably at being touched in their sleep! Now when did they come in? I had no idea and my mind began to wander back to the sequence I had witnessed, some of which was still going on. And then it dawned on me! I remember seeing such a place myself in my own dreams and again in my deep meditations. This was no planet. This was what has often been called the Oversoul, or the Soul Body. So the Spruce family and “friends” came together as one and planned to stay as one! How absolutely unique! I know well we meet people from our pasts, from this past and other past lives, and so often we just pass as ships in the night, usually because we’ve worked out everything we needed to work out with them before, and sometimes, they do become great friends. But this group possessed a power beyond my comprehension. They remained a unit, probably having lived as such for much of their existence here and wherever else or rather, whenever else they came together on this or any other planet. The light changed again. This time it was softer in its yellow hue and then suddenly became speckled with red. The stage in front of me showed the playhouse and two youngsters, a girl and a boy putting together a puzzle. Suddenly they raised their heads as though being called. The boy quickly put on his jacket and ran outside. I knew what I was going to witness before it happened but that was fine. I needed to see it because it needed to be dealt with; since Harry and I were dear friends, not passing as “ships in the night” this lifetime, but as friends, it was my duty to help him out now. He had already helped me greatly in this lifetime—now it was my turn to set things right. That’s what all this was about. I was now certain, and the sudden rumbling purrs I heard seemed to agree.