10 THINGS

I am your baby…just born yesterday…I have all my fingers…all of my toes

and even though I can’t talk yet…here are 10 things I’d like you to know.

You will receive  a lot of good and bad advice…

you won’t always be able to tell them apart

so the first thing I have to tell you….

is to trust yourself and follow your heart 

Please…never call me stupid or I might end up feeling that way.

protect me….keep me safe and warm…life will be more appealing that way

And don’t be alarmed if I get hurt…when I bruise…be there to soothe and numb it…

remember your job is to help me learn about life…

not to keep me protected from it

Mistakes are just a part of who I am…and in my life they will be interspersed

So if you want me to believe in myself…

you must believe in me first.

I will be a child for a while…so be forgiving and patient with me

even the times when I make it difficult for you to be the parents you imagined you’d to be.

Finally, remember to love me no matter what… it’s the last thing I need you to know

your love is something I always will need…something I’ll never outgrow.

So there you have it…10 things you should know…

at least I think that’s the right amount…

after all I was only born yesterday…

I can’t talk 

how can you expect me to count!

COLLECTING MOMENTS

Some people think time is merciless…an unrelenting autocrat

but there are moments when I think…there’s more to her than that.

Have you ever had that perfect moment…when surrounded by family or friends

that moment when you wished to yourself…I hope this moment never ends?

That moment you stop to look around…knowing nothing can compare

for at that moment love is palpable…you can feel it in the air.

And you take a moment to thank time…for pausing…and you smile

as you savor this momentary respite…if only for a while.

And when this fleeting moment’s over and time again begins to drift

You realize by moving slowly…time has given you a gift.

Have you ever had that awful moment…perhaps with family or friends

that moment when you wished to yourself…I can’t wait for this moment to end.

That moment you stop to look around…a moment you cannot bare

for at that moment sorrow is palpable…and sadness fills the air.

And you take a moment to pray that time will not linger…will not stay

that she will gather up this moment and hurry it away.

And when that moment’s over and time again begins to drift

you realize by moving quickly…time has given you a gift.

Life is about collecting moments…moments such as these

moments collected over time which become our memories…

But by slowing down and speeding up…I think you’ll come to find

time is not always merciless…sometimes she’s benevolent…and kind.

LONELINESS

She’s never told the people around her…

she dare not make her feelings known

how, even surrounded by those who loved her,

she sometimes feels alone.

I WILL MISS YOU MORE

It was their special way to say goodnight…he’s not sure when it started

or how they began to use it whenever they departed…

When he was young at bedtime she’d lean down and kiss his forehead…

as she had done the night before

“I will miss you while I’m sleeping.” he’d say

then she would whisper… “But I will miss you more”.

It’s funny how a little thing like that…a little thing you hear or see

when done with so much love…imprints in your memory.

Even as a teenager when sons and mothers sometimes fight

all would be forgotten when she came to say goodnight

When she leaned down to kiss his forehead…

as she had done the night before

When he said, “I will miss you while I’m sleeping.”

and she’d whisper… “But I will miss you more.”

Even when he grew up and left the house… even the older he became

after every visit together their message was the same:

She would kiss him on his forehead as they stood by her front door

“I will miss you while I am away.” he’d say.

Then she would whisper… “But I will miss you more.”

Then came the day no parent and child wants…

a day with tears filling up his eyes

when he sat beside her on her bed…

when he came to say goodbye…

He took her frail hand in his and they sat in silence for a while.

She opened her eyes and for a moment between them passed a smile…

Then he leaned over and kissed her forehead…

as she had done so many times before….

“I will miss you while I’m sleeping.” she said

and he whispered… “But I will miss you more.”

NO NUKES...MORE UKES

Yesterday was World Ukulele Day…you heard me right…it’s not a fluke

Yesterday people all around the world came together…to celebrate the uke.

They were playing in the park in our town so we had to check it out…

We wanted to learn a little more and see what the fuss was all about.

The ukulele originated in Hawaii…that state surrounded by the sea…

and translated roughly from Hawaiian…ukulele means ‘jumping flea’.

It’s possible the name comes from how fast the fingers seem to jump around when people play it

but whatever the reason the word ukulele makes you smile when you say it.

On stage a group of people picked up their ukuleles

and played familiar songs

as people who brought their own ukes accompanied them

while the rest of us sang along…

In a world that is so divided so filled with distrust and animosity

people coming together to play and sing was a beautiful sight to see.

Perhaps that is the point of World Ukulele Day…

to bring people together no matter their religion, sexuality or race….

for no other earthly reason that to put a smile on their face.

To show the world through a 4 stringed instrument and some old familiar songs

that we can come together…

that we can get along.

Which leads me to wonder… 

What if there is a way?

What if a world with less hate and animosity

begins with more ukulele days.

INDIANS AND MANATEES

When one of the first settlers asked a Native American, 

“What do you call this land?”

He shrugged his shoulders and scratched his head…

“It has no name…

it’s shared by all

we call it ours.”he said. 

The other day we visited sacred Indian mounds built by people we didn’t know

Temple mounds and burial grounds constructed a thousand years ago.

The mounds were built next to a river and as we watched clouds drift in the sky

we were blessed as quietly in that river a family of manatees came floating by.

And I thought as we stood in the shade and comfort of two beautiful old oak trees

how they have a lot in common…Indians and manatees.

How they lived in tandem with the land honest sincere direct

taking only what they needed…treating all things with respect.

How they shared this land together…. for oh so many years

until our ancestors came across the ocean and chose to settle here.

Chose to endanger their way of life, who they were…who they would be

threatening their individual journeys…endangering their history.

And today when I look a Indians and Manatees I see all that we hijacked

how we’ve left them, through our greed and arrogance, with scars upon their backs.

And I wondered as we climbed reverentially to the top of the temple stairs

how they must wish for a time when America was not America…

just a land they both called…theirs.

for a time when they shared the land, 

the rivers 

and the trees

for a time when they were happy 

being Indians and manatees.

HE KNEW

He knew his love would last a lifetime…

He knew she was…the one

when her voice reminded him of moonlight

and her smile of the sun