I never know where these blessing will come from
I’m often surprised at how they find their way to me…
for instance, today’s blessing found me on our morning walk
in the form of a Melody.
May we be blessed each morning
as time in front of our mirror we spend…
to look at the person staring back at us
and recognize our best friend.
When she was a very young girl…she imagines from the moment she was born
with her parents help she believed in all kinds things…like mermaids and unicorns.
She believed lightning bugs were born in a campfires…
that every Cinderella would find her prince and they would wed.
She believed rubbing a lamp could produce a genie
and there were houses made from gingerbread.
She believed she could ride on the back of a dragon…
that there were castles in the sky
She believed if she spread her arms out far enough
one day she’d learn to fly.
She believed in the power of Mother Nature and the patience of Father Time
She believed if she grew her hair long enough
it would be easy for someone to climb.
Even now she loves to sit back and blissfully reminisce…
about believing in Santa Claus, the Easter bunny and the magic of a kiss.
how she use to play outside for hours then come in hungry with scraped knees
believing she could see the entire world from the top of the tallest trees.
She taught these lessons to her daughter who came to her one day and asked,
“Momma, can you tell me please…
Will there ever come a time I stop believing in fairy tales and fantasies”
“Stop believing in fairy tales!” Her mother said.
“and in the messages they’e sending?”
“Stop believing in the wonders of these stories…
in the beauty of happy endings?”
“Ever get to the point in our lives
where our imagination doesn’t cause a thrill!
And as her daughter climbed onto her back
and spread her wings she said,
“If we’re lucky…neither of us ever will.”
If we choose to share our love and life with someone
whether it be a man and woman,
two women
or two men…
may we be blessed as the year slip by
to fall in love with that person…
over…and over…again
A couple who’d been married for a few years were sitting together
listening to music one day…
when Van Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl…on the radio began to play.
“It’s one of my favorite songs!” He said.
Which was something she already knew.
“Because, every time I hear it,” he said and she mouthed,
“it makes me think of you.”
“I know it’s one of your favorite songs.” She said,
“But when I hear it I’m always a little frustrated.
because I know a different brown eyed girl
was the first girl you ever dated.”
“That first brown eyed girl and I were together a lifetime ago.” He nodded.
“But now that we’re together here’s something you should know…”
“I shared a couple months in high school with her…
but you and I are sharing a life!
I chose that brown eyed girl to be my girlfriend…
but I chose you to be my wife.”
It’s been many years since that moment…
but…to this day…something they both notice is…
now, whenever that song comes on the radio…her smile matches his.
Sometimes they sit and listen to it quietly…
Sometimes they dance…with a dip…maybe even a twirl…
and she’s been happy knowing all this years
she’s been his brown eyed girl.
May we be blessed when we see a dandelion
to take a moment and rejoice….
knowing coming face to face with a dandelion…offers us a choice…
We can either see a simple weed there in the ground displayed
or see standing there before us…a wish that’s waiting to be made
She remembers her parents taking her to her window every night
telling her…”No matter how old you grow…no matter where you are.
before you go to bed each night promise us…you’ll make a wish upon a star.”
But their wishing didn’t stop at the stars…
They showed her how to make wishes as she blew on dandelion seeds
then watched them float up to the sky.
how to make a wish whenever a ladybug landed on her
whenever she saw a sunflower…or chanced upon a butterfly.
One day she asked her parents why they make so many wishes…
What is it wishes do?
“Because,” they said, “the more wishes you make and the more dreams you dream…there’s a good chance some of them will come true.”
"And where do wishes come from?” she asked.
“We don’t know for certain,” they answered, “where dreams and wishes start
but we like to think they come from a room somewhere deep within your heart.”
“A private, safe and quiet room in which only you are allowed to step.
where all your wishes and dreams are formed…and all your promises kept.
So all her life…she’s kept her promise…
she’s always making wishes or dreaming dreams
on stars, and rainbows and flower petals before sending them down a stream.
And throughout all the wishes she has made…
she’s discovered what her parents always knew…
You don’t have to count all the wishes you make
only the wishes that have ever come true.
May we be blessed knowing
from the moment of our birth
until the moment our life ends…
how we are surrounded by angels
We call them:
our family..and friends.
Deborah has a fear of flying…it surfaces before we even step onto the plane…
The problem:
This summer we’ll be flying to Seattle, Washington…
and back home from Bangor, Maine.
A friend of hers said, “What a coincidence…I had a fear of flying too…
but now…when I’m getting on an airplane…this is what I do.”
“When they call for me to board the plane…before it’s doorstep I have crossed
I think of Karen and Nancy (two friends they both have lost!)
"I picture them as angels in heaven floating happy…cancer free.
and I like to think my two old friends are looking after me.”
“When the airplane takes off and heads high into the sky…
I like to think that Karen and Nance are hovering nearby.”
“Now…once I’m in an airplane…I don’t worry about a thing…
because I know nothing bad will happen…with an angel on each wing.”
So…Deborah’s going to try this technique this summer
as we fly to Seattle…then back home from Bangor, Maine…
It brings her joy and comfort thinking Karen and Nancy will be joining her on the plane.
And isn’t that a great way to travel through life?
Doesn’t it help bring joy and happiness to everyone…and everything…
knowing wherever we choose to fly…we have an angel on each wing.
As every day we attempt to create our own version of Camelot…
whether we are a distinguished poet…
a famous storyteller…
or not
may we be blessed to spend each moment
filling our life with happy memories
that…as the years unfold
become the poems we write
and the stories we tell
in our Camelot…when we’re old.
People sometimes ask me how I do it…how do I find a way…
how is it even possible…to write a new poem every day?
There really is no one answer to my daily poetry.
There is a myriad of ways words find their way to me…
Sometimes words flow out like a river and on that particular day
I’m swimming as fast as I can to catch them…before they float away.
On other days words seem to be floating under the surface of a lake…
happily milling about…
and I’ve got time to relax, sit on the bank and patiently fish them out.
Still other times like a soft and misty rain, a butterfly or a leaf tumbling out of a tree….
the words of a poem, without much help, gently land on me.
That’s how I find the words…or how the words find me…
but that is only half the story of my daily poetry.
Every day I’m inspired by people…first and foremost…my friends and family
by all I see happening in the world and by nature’s beauty that surrounds me.
It seems everywhere I look…everywhere I roam…
everything I see or hear is waiting for it’s chance to be a poem.
So the next time someone asks me how I do it…how do I write a poem every day?
I think I’m ready to answer…I know exactly what I’m going to say:
With an endless amount of words to choose from…
with a world of inspiration around me…
I too wonder when the day is done
how is it possible…
I’ve only written one?
