Still Basking in the Glow

Preparing
Hoping
Wrapping
Cooking
Cleaning
Worrying
Bedazzling

Days run together, balance is tenuous-

Praying
More bedazzling
More worrying
Pausing
Noticing miracles
Remembering
More praying
Connecting
Noticing more miracles
Thanking
Basking
Glowing

Remembering to Look Up

With blinders on, circumstances overwhelm.
One runs into the next.
Some resolve, some persist.
Realities flip.
We question our grasp.
Outside of this, looking back,
will we remember what it was about?
Does it matter, or is the point in the struggle?
Looking up, a flash of perspective soothes,
if only for a moment.

Terrible Things

Some things, unforeseen, knock us off kilter.  Early on, full of hope and resilience, we glean gifts from the wreckage and move forth, stronger at the seams. 

Some things come in quick succession, before the last seam has cured. 

Some things irrevocably change us.  We become unrecognizable to ourselves, unsure of our seams.

Some things happen over and over again.  The price of changing our response is too high.  Those for whom the price is not too high begin to fall away, one by one.

Isolated, brittle from vigilance, we move forward, trying everything.  With each failure, we retreat within, in search of our innocence, where we might find a spark of hope.

Depleted, disoriented, stillness is a balm as we wait for the next . . . thing.