HAPPY Valentine's Day

The heart is an amazing organ…without it we wouldn’t exist

which is crazy when you realize it’s only the size of our fist!

Four weeks after conception…well before we officially arrive

it begins to beat and does not stop until we’re no longer alive.

The heart has a magical capacity for love...as everybody knows.

The more it loves and is loved the stronger that it grows.

Our brain is used for knowledge but its our heart that guides the way?

In fact, the heart is so important…it has its own holiday?

Valentine’s Day is a day that has set itself apart 

as the only holiday we have that celebrates the heart.

A heart that nurtures us while dancing an energetic but delicate ballet

a heart that must be treated with kindness not just today…but every day

Because the heart provides a daily a lesson for all of us to see

that even though it is strong and sturdy…it can be broken easily.

I think a fitting epitaph for any of us when we depart

would be that we were gentle with other people’s hearts.

So be gentle with each other’s heart today, celebrate with candy, flowers or a kiss

and keep in mind this whole thing started with an organ no bigger than your fist.

LOVE OF MY LIFE

His vows were sweet and simple

when they became man and wife…

“I will cherish you forever,” he said

“for you are the love of my life.”

WORDS OF LOVE

When you look around the world and think we’re in a terrible state

when you start believing love is losing in the battle between love and hate…

here’s a little observation to help to ease your doubt…

just a little something to ruminate about…

‘I love you’ are the first words we hear the instant we are born

the moment we open up our eyes…

and ‘I love you’ are also the last words we hear 

the moment before we die?

Think about it…if ‘I love you’ are the first words spoken as we enter

and before our final scene

could there be any doubt that ‘I love you’

fills up many moments in between?

So the next time you look around the world and think…

we’re in a terrible state…

remember the first and last words spoken to us…

are words of love…

not hate.

WHEN GRANDMA AND GRANDPA WATCH THE GRAMMYS

When we were younger…we prided ourselves in being what we would call hip!

We were hip by our music, by how we danced, even the clothes that we wore.

and as grandma’s and grandpas we still think we’re hip

but we’re told no-one uses that term anymore….

Back then when it came time to watch the Grammys

we knew the words to every song…

we watched as the performers did their singing and dancing

and we danced 

and we sang along…

But as the years have slipped away from us

though we still have our musical hunger

it seems the people doing the singing 

have gotten younger

and younger 

and younger.

So now when it’s time to watch the Grammys

we don’t always feel we belong…

We often can’t understand what it is they are singing

which makes it impossible to sing along.

And if we try to dance like they dance

we don’t feel like hipsters…at all.

In fact the only hip we are feeling

Is the one that we bruise…when we fall!

So now we sit back and relax watching the Grammys

they still put on a wonderful show

and we listen and try as old hipsters

to pick up and use their argot…

So this year we were dope with the clothes they wore on that stage

and dope with the songs that were sung…

though we’re pretty sure dope doesn’t mean the same thing

as it did back when we hipsters were young.

WHY ARE THE OCEANS BLUE?

When I was young and asked the question why is the ocean blue?

There was a simple answer…one everybody knew.

The way the water filters the spectrum of sunlight holds the key…

the red colors are absorbed…while the blues are the ones we see.

I didn’t realize how essential the oceans were back then…how vital for all life too…

I only knew there was a lot of water, it was fun to swim in…it was salty…and it was blue.

Now I know we need the oceans to live…it’s a certainty that we do!

But here’s something else that I have learned…the oceans needs us too.

They need us to stop polluting, stop overfishing…stop causing them so much distress.

They need us to help replenish them 

so they can go back to doing what they do best…

Sustaining life for a host of diverse creatures that inhabit the ocean blue

and while they’re at it sustaining life for all the people on Earth too…

I’ve learned the oceans are sad because they’re dying…and they have a story to tell

that if we succeed in killing them…we’ll be killing ourselves as well… 

Now that I’m older I know the answer to the question is not a simple one…

but one I wish everybody knew

It’s also how we’re mistreating them everyday…

that makes the oceans blue.

UNDERNEATH THE APPLE TREE

He was walking in an apple orchard…in itself a beautiful sight to see

when he stopped to rest a moment…underneath an apple tree.

It was apple picking season…the aroma of apples wafted in the air.

The branches bent under the weight of apples everywhere.

He was captivated sitting there…wondering how this could possibly be

How could every apple be unique,

and beautiful

yet come from the same tree. 

No two apples were the same

although all were similarly grown…

they came in different sizes,

shapes

and colors

but each had a beauty all its own.

And he thought how humans are like the apples

hanging from this tree…

How all growing together

we are a beautiful sight to see..

How no two humans are the same

although we all are similarly grown…

How we come in different sizes,

shapes

and colors

but each one of us has beauty all our own.

And with hope in his heart he awaits the day 

for what a great day it will be

when the whole world can see what he saw

underneath that apple tree.

NOTHING EVER WILL

As she noticed her reflection in the mirror…she was frightened and appalled

and as she took a closer look..her tears began to fall.

She had trouble recognizing the person reflected over there

Cancer had made her thin and frail…Cancer had taken her hair.

Her husband noticed her standing there…And said, “I saw you from afar

and I just had to come and tell you how beautiful you are.”

She leaned back into his arms saying, “I’m not as beautiful I fear…

as when you fell in love with me…but, still, it’s nice to hear.”

“It’s true you’re not as beautiful.” he said…

”But that’s because you’ve found a way

in all the years I’ve known you…to be more beautiful every day.

It’s why when I look at you when we awaken…it’s easy for me to say

you are more beautiful this morning than you were yesterday.

Then he held her tightly in his arm…and whispered in her ear

words that eased her sadness…words that mollified her fears…

“In all the years I’ve known you…I’ve admired from afar

how warm and kind and wonderful…how beautiful you are…”

“Nothing can take from you what has taken you a lifetime to instill…

nothing can steal your beauty…

nothing ever will.”