Tap. Tap. Tap-tap.

Inside the Robin egg, an almost-bird uses its “egg-tooth” to chip away at the shell from the inside out. Gradually it has outgrown the safe haven of the egg. The space that once felt expansive, now feels cramped. The tiny hatchling can’t possibly know the complex world and future experiences awaiting outside the egg; it merely senses that “something has to change.” There comes an afternoon, a rainy morning, or another sleepless night when it has to decide: either stop growing – and begin to shrink and die – or risk dismantling its comfortable world for the unknown.

Tap Tap. Tap-tap.

The cracking egg signals the natural inclination of all beings to adapt and grow. Those who host the LifeForce in their veins lean in the direction of expansion. But growing beyond the familiar can often feel risky. Sometimes our expansion makes us feel as if we are “cracking up.” Leave my job to go back to school? Are you crazy? Cash in my savings to live abroad for a year? Are you insane? Paint the kitchen what color? Have you lost your mind? Sometimes our world has to fall apart to open a passageway to something better. Eventually growth takes us out of our comfort zone. 100% of flying – soaring – happens outside the nest.

Sometimes we second-guess our timing, using terms such as “early” or “late,” “premature” and “overdue,” plotting our pace on an imaginary timeline. But hatching happens “right on time.”  In the present moment. When we’re ready, even though we might think we’re not. The only time we have is now, and now is a perfect time to face in the direction of our Dream.

Peter Roget invented the Thesaurus at 73. Laura Ingalls Wilder started her Little House on the Prairie series at 65. Julia Child was 49 when she began writing cookbooks. Grandma Moses took up painting at 75.

I felt the Quickening of Dream Hatching back in October 2013. It’s taken some time to find my flock, create space for it in my life, to let it find its wings. As its originator/caretaker, I can hear the Tap, Tap, Tap-tap — letting me know it’s growing and ready to emerge into the world. My heart leaps at the sound, and yet its future remains to be seen. Is my Dream viable? Will it ever get off the ground?

Tap, Tap, Tap-tap.

The rhythmic tap of my fingers on the keyboard signals that I’m ready to birth this Dream.

As I look at the post date, a familiar voice reprimands me, telling me I should have started this years ago.

“Hush,” I tell it. “I’m right on time. “