Senbazuru !!!

Early this afternoon, I sat down on my living room floor, in front of a fire, my cat in my lap (his choice, of course), put on some quiet music and ... folded the last 10 cranes of my 1,000.

For the final one, I chose a beautiful, shiny piece of gold origami paper. (I had been saving it for this honor.)

When I took it in my hands, I tried to slow down, breathe and really look at it -- a thin piece of paper, like gold leaf, delicate and light. In four minutes, it would be transformed from this flat "nothing" into a three-dimensional thing of beauty. Paper turned into bird. Transformation.

As I folded -- I tried to make the creases so perfectly on this last crane -- I thought about transformation, and how I've been trying to transform myself. Or at least, the part of myself that needs to change.

The alchemy of lead into gold, anger into peace, is not instantaneous. It's a process. It takes effort and concentration and, most of all, a commitment of the heart.

After I finished Crane No. 1,000, I took a pen and wrote on its underwings: "1,000" and "senbazuru." Today's date. My initials.

And then it was over.

Tomorrow I'll post a photo of the thousand cranes.