As I write tonight, I am sitting beneath a Strawberry Moon. Blindingly bright, it rises over the low pasture, and up onto the ridge, her beams picking their way through the blueberry rows, bush by bush. I settle into a creaking Adirondack chair – a gift given with memories to keep and memories to create […]
Moonlit Rambles
Poetry. I wish that I had poetry in me tonight. The moon swells and with it swells my spirit, but it feels like there are no words. The window at the stair landing looks out over the pasture where the full moon rises – we stop there and gaze in silence, and then I tuck […]
Wild and Free
I lived in Oklahoma for 5 years, and failed at every flower I planted. Our porch planters would burn, our gardens would flood, our sunflowers would be eaten by locust. It wasn’t that it was impossible to keep living things alive, just that one actually had to tend them, and I couldn’t. I was too busy keeping […]
Being Present and Embracing Life For What It Is
Riverbanks The Willamette (will-AM-et) River winds behind the backdrop of my childhood memories, and now it is winding into the memories of my children. It feels surreal on some level, to be back here with my children and living within a half mile of her banks. The scents are heady: water, douglas firs, blackberries; the baking rocks beneath […]
Transitions, Goodbyes
Goodbyes We’ve been in the preparation stage of exiting the army for about 8 months now, and here we are, finally coming down to the wire. All the decisions, all the prayers, all the worry and peace and questions. But here we are, and there’s no turning back. David has a few months left on […]
The Earth Is Alive
We have had two weeks of sickness around here, and just when I thought we were getting well, it came back to invade my lungs and Grace’s ears. No sleep. I am so, so, so, so tired. Nevertheless, yesterday dawned warm and sunny and in hopes of the car motion lulling Grace into a nap, I took the […]