Wednesday, September 4, 2024

AFTER THE RAIN

 

I know I write a lot about my morning walks…let me now explain…

You see…each walk is different…like this morning…after the rain.

 

Last night’s rain was over but it’s vestiges were everywhere

Drops still clinging to the trees…the smell of rain still in the air.


The moon had set before I woke and the clouds had all flown by

making room up in the heavens for the stars to fill the sky.


When their starlight hit the raindrops…still clinging to the trees

they looked like little Christmas ornaments swaying in the breeze.


I like to feel the raindrops fall on me as I stand under the trees

I wait for them to be shaken loose by the early morning breeze.


The birds are still asleep…making sure when it’s their turn…their voices will be in tact

They sleep soundly knowing the crickets are already performing the first act.


This time of year…this early…it’s mostly rabbits that I see…

content to nod as I walk by or occasionally, share the walk with me.


Even the water in the gulf is sleeping…gently rocking sailboats that are mooring.

In the silence of the morning…I can hear…the waves softly snoring.


I always have the urge…after a rain…when I walk down the middle of the empty street

to walk and jump and splash like a child…in the puddles at my feet.


Remembering something my parents said…(it now seems like a hundred years before)

They’d smile as they watched us saying…that’s exactly what puddles are for.


I like to run my hand along the plants and the bushes…any place the rain has lingered 

thinking how magical the same rain that fell from the clouds…is now resting on my fingers.


As I head across our lawn once home…

thinking of all these morning memories I’ve amassed.

I realize the only thing left to do after the rain

is to walk barefoot in the grass.


I know I write a lot about my morning walks…

but each walk in its own way entertains…

each walk is unique and magical and different…like this morning…after the rain.


Tuesday, September 3, 2024

LOVE AND COURAGE

 

Isn’t it amazing how love can make your courage soar…

how it can make you braver than than you’ve ever been before.


ON THE RIVERBANK

 

Working in a bookstore gives me a unique perspective which I never had before.

I get to see the world through the people who come in and out the store.


It’s like I’m on a riverbank…where the ceiling is the sky

and where I get to glimpse at all the people floating by.


I’ve seen every size and shape and color of families…of this I have do doubt

from my spot upon the riverbank…as they flow in and out.


I’ve seen every size and shape and color of couples…on the river…holding hands 

and from my spot upon the riverbank I’ve come to understand


how a heart without restrictions is a wonderful sight to see…

How beautiful love is…when the heart has been set free.


I love seeing all the sizes and shapes and colors of families and couples…everywhere I look…

I love how sometimes they wave…

sometimes they talk with me…

and sometimes…they even buy a book!


Which is why I love to sit on the riverbank in the bookstore

looking out on the world I see…

and why I don’t listen to people who want to tell me how the world should be.


I’m perfectly happy here on the riverbank…because from here it’s easy for me to see

the world as it really is…

the world as it was created to be.


Monday, September 2, 2024

CIRCLE DANCE

 

May we be blessed every now and then to dance 

like we danced when we were kids….

to dance in a perfect circle…

like our indigenous ancestors did…



To them…the circle dance was not a dance they happened to dance by chance…

To them…dancing in a circle is what gave meaning to the dance


For they believed 

dancing is a way pray

that prayer helps people heal

when people heal they can give

and when giving is how they live…

the circle is complete…

the whole world is enhanced…


because when people give to live

It makes them want to dance.


A CELTIC SUMMER'S NIGHT

 

I believe we’re created to be discoverers…from the moment of our birth!

meant to discover all the things we love…while here upon the Earth.


I think that’s why so often on a chid’s face a smile finds its way…

because they are discovering new things to love…new things in each and every day,


I’m not sure when I started loving Celtic music…

when the sound of the fiddle first made me grin…

I imagine it happened years ago…when heard my first violin. 


I’n not sure when I started loving an Irish accent

I imagine it was when I saw a woman from Ireland…

had the chance to meet her.

and I heard the same words that I speak…

Lout of her mouth…sound much sweeter.


I’m not sure when I started loving Celtic songs…

I imagine it was when I heard an Irish woman sing

In a voice as clear and beautiful as the mountain dew…in Spring.


I’m not sure when I started loving Irish dancing…

I imagine it was when I first was mesmerized by those flying feet…

and realized how so much grace and beauty could be paired with a rhythm and a beat.


I’m not sure when these loves began…I imagine each at a certain age

but yesterday we were treated to all these…together on one stage.


Opportunities to discover new things we love become harder to find

the older that we grow

So it’s nice when we rediscover things we learned to love…a long long time ago…


Which is why sitting in the theater…everything felt so comfortable…so right

as I watched and listened to the music and the dancing of a Celtic Summer’s Night.


And why as I sat mesmerized…to the beauty…the power…the grace

the same smile I smiled when I discovered these loves as a child…

found its way across my face.


Sunday, September 1, 2024

WHAT OUR CHILDREN ARE TEACHING US

 

Today’s blessing is an old reminder for parents

That every now and deserves to be brought back out:


While you we trying to teach our children (and grandchildren) about life

without trying, they are teaching us what life is all about.


WHEN WE TAUGHT OUR GRANDCHILDREN HOW TO GAMBLE

 


I ran across some photos the other day

hanging off an old branch on our family tree…

and as photos often do they awoke a memory in me.


I love how that happens…sometimes as down memory lane I ramble

a simple photograph or two can make a memory unscramble.


It was the night we taught our grandchildren to play poker 

(If their mom and dad were there they might’ve been appalled!)

The night we took our four grandchildren…

and made gamblers of them all.


In our defense poker teaches many life lessons…

and to our grandchildren we wanted to relay them….

Like how as important as the cards we’re dealt…

It’s even more important how we play them.


It teaches us how to read another person…

when to bluff…and when to wait…

And how every now and then you need to take a chance

on drawing to an inside straight.


It teaches us when we have the cards….to enjoy the moment…that feeling…the rush

and how…no matter how we’d like it to be different…a full house always beats a flush.

 

Poker teaches us how to lose with dignity…when all we needed was that ace!

And when we have the winning hand…how to win with decency and grace.


We like to think when our grandchildren look back on our times together

They’ll remember all the fun we had…

They’ll remember our support and our praise…

They’ll remember dinners around our table

celebrating birthdays and holidays…


And in those quiet moments…

perhaps when they see an old photo hanging from our family tree

a memory will unscramble…

and they’ll remember when they were young

the night Nana and PopPop taught them how to gamble.