Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Wednesday, June 03, 2020
Third Mailing Letter to my friends
My friends,
This week I am just hurting. I am missing everything. I feel disconnected from the things I love. I feel powerless to do anything to stop the hurting. And that was before the riots started…
I don’t really have more words for what this weekend brought, and the interfaith poems I had intended to send today just seem too intellectual somehow. Too careful. Not raw enough to help with all this hurt. So I decided to try something different.
A few weeks ago I was having a bad day. I don’t even really remember what was so upsetting, but I found myself crying at odd moments and my children were all huddled around me at different points trying to comfort me. Emma, of course, found a way to help. While I was out on an errand, she made these little slips of paper with the word “hug” on them and she placed them everywhere around the house. By everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE. She taped them to the inside handles of the refrigerator and the oven. She left them under my hairbrush and my toothpaste. She slipped them in books and taped one to the inside of the dog’s food container. She put them under shampoo and conditioner bottles and on top of the washing machine. I eventually found one folded into some laundry in my closet and another under my pillow and one on the bottom of the salsa container in the fridge. I think I was finding them for a week, and every time I found a new one I would smile and my chest would loosen a little. I have asked her twice if she is still hiding new ones, which she says she is not. I have my doubts. :))
So my friends, today I want to share hugs with you. I can’t sneak into your homes and hide them for you, but I can at least send them out to you. Maybe you can hide them yourselves to find later, or tuck them into spots to be noticed again when needed. Tape them to handles, slip them into books, slide them into the edge of mirrors. My hope is that whenever you see one, you will smile, and your chest will loosen, and the pain will take a small step back, and you will know you are loved. You are loved, and every one of us is loved. Everywhere. May this be the simple, powerful message we hear, may it be a living thing in our hearts, and may it be the message we bring forward. Everywhere.
From mine to yours.
Tuesday, June 02, 2020
Fear
Books for these times
* I’m Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal
* The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay Moore
* Boy in the Black Suit, When I was the Greatest, and the Ghost series by Jason Reynolds
* Scrawl by Marcus Shulman
* The Hate U Give and On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
* This Side of Home and Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson
* The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Alexie Sherman
* Bluford High series (mixed authors) and Urban Underground series by Anne Schraff
* Brown Girl Dreaming, Locomotion and Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
* Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
* Crossover and Rebound by Kwame Alexander
* Between the Lines, Bronx Masquerade, Ordinary Hazards, and Planet Middleschool by Nikki Grimes
* Mixed Feelings by Avan Jogia
Come Sit With Me
Come Sit With Me
We began this boldly
charging forward
all of us together
to do good
to save lives
with chants and cheers
with singing from balconies
rainbows and chalk drawings to
guide us.
Boldly
to conquer.
Then as time passed
our steps slowed.
paced.
The Long March
the long march
to where?
to victory?
to the top of the hill?
to dawn?
Heavier.
A stumble.
A recovery.
A pause to look around
take a breath.
Slow became slower
the breaks longer
the miles
became blocks
fields
yards
steps.
Will you sit with me?
Still we sang.
Voices mixing
through the magic of technology.
Each voice matters.
Each voice its place.
Rising up
We shall not be silenced.
We will not go quietly
into this —
Those too fell away,
One by one.
Some fading.
Some turning.
Some caught,
as if breath stopped,
or a sob -
one by one
one less by one less
the singing
stops.
And there is only this.
Only this single candle
flickering
wavering
in our dark.
only this tiny
precious light.
holding.
neither growing nor dying.
holding.
through this night.
holding
us.
as we sit with it.
as we sit with it.
there is nothing else now.
we draw to it.
we gather, we shadows.
we wait
and it does not go out.
as we settle here
we begin to realize
that we can see
after all.
that there is light
in this dark.
not beaming
not shining
no beacons or even dawn breaking
just this
light
gentle and tiny and
enough.
Let us sit with it.
Let us wait with it.
Let us hope.
Let us know.
It is enough.
khfc
Saturday, May 16, 2020
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
My mail campaign
from Praying with the Earth by John Philip Newell
poem - Safe
May 12 - I Miss...
Ogden Nash - The Germ!
Thoughts on Easter Vigil April 10
poem April 7 We Did Not Die
Singing - April 4
Take a rest from the fight
Don't try to figure it out
Just listen to what I'm whispering to your heart
'Cause I know this is not
Anything like you thought
The story of your life was gonna be
And it feels like the end has started closing in on you
But it's just not true
There's so much of the story that's still yet to unfold
Just you wait and see and you will be amazed
You've just got to believe the story is so far from over
So hold on to every promise God has made to us
And watch this glorious unfolding
For this world and your heart
Has been to show His glory and His grace
Forever revealing the depth and the beauty of
His unfailing love
And the story has only begun
A rant from March 30... Health care vs Emergency Management
Continuing the philosophical question... March 28
Philosophical Question - March 28
Thoughts from Lockdown - March 20
Sunday, May 12, 2019
Mother's Day 2019
Got up early to greet my new teenager
Drank my hot chocolate in peace
Had breakfast made by Glen
Mediated a fight between Lissy and Alex over who had more gifts for me
Sliced strawberries and helped bring Discovery breakfast.
Celebrated Emma's birthday at church with the s'mores cake she made
Joined in the whole church singing happy birthday to Emma
Mediated another fight over gifts
Helped Lissy find the flower she lost for me
Got beautiful cards from Lissy and Alex
Watched videos made by Lissy and Alex for me
Cleaned the kitchen after Emma decorated her second cake
Enjoyed Emma's wonderful mac and cheese dinner
Ate Emma's second cake
Cleaned the kitchen again
Cleaned the birthday debris
Got lots of hugs and hugs and hugs
Watched "cardinal reality TV" on Emma's new birdfeeder. We named four cardinals and a catbird.
Mediated another fight
Got distracted a million times
Finished a book. Too bad it had a cliffhanger end! Ordered the next book. God bless Amazon.
Opened one of Emma's jar of positivity notes. Laughed. Alot.
Cleaned the kitchen again.
Ditched cleaning the kitchen in favor of a last hot chocolate.
All is well. Happy mother's day.
Thursday, January 19, 2017
Lissy's dream
My heart is breaking.
She is also in ballet, where she is also very talented. A few days ago the owner there and I spoke, and she reinforced that Lissy really is physically gifted. She said she has seen another growth in Lissy's ballet. I thought I saw it, but as a mom you never know if it's just wishful thinking, right? But Janis said what I am seeing is real. She is good. And for ballet, I do think she is in the right place and the right school.
Last night after dinner I told Glen and Lissy that. And we talked a little bit about the fact that in one or maybe two years at most she is going to have to make a choice, because both sports will get to be too time consuming to manage both. Glen asked her which she thinks she might do. She answered gymnastics, "because you can't go to the Olympics for ballet." Glen laughed and told her she's not going to the Olympics anyway, she has no idea how hard those kids work and how they have nothing else in their lives. He also told her she's already way too old. This is not how I would have done the conversation, but there we were. I told her that she is also not at the right gym. I told her that her gym can get her to state champs, probably to college, but it will not get her to the Olympics because it is not aggressive enough. She seemed OK as long as she gets to go to State. She was smiley, but the way she left reminded me of the way she looks at the end of a meet where she hasn't done well, so I wonder if we weren't seeing her game face.
I spent hours awake last night. Did I kill her dream? How deep was the dream? Was it ever possible? Could it be possible if we did things differently? Could it be possible if we were at a different gym? Have I failed her??? Glen stated again that he thinks she is at the perfect gym for her. It clearly holds compassion, caring, safety, health, and good sportsmanship as its highest values, all things we want for her. But...
My heart is breaking.