Monday, December 29, 2014

One Word


The Mystery within...
This week choosing one word that would represent growth for me in 2015 was an e-mail exercise sent to me by my publisher, David Gawlik of Caritas Communications. It evoked in me indecision, challenge, thought, and discernment.  David later told me his chosen word was Listening.  His word took me back to 1975 remembering the late Father Carl Alberte.  He sat in rapt attention when I took him the portion of money I received from my husband’s funeral specifically designated for masses.  I told him I’m keeping the rest of the money because I’m going to need it, and I don’t believe in paying for prayers anyway.  I also shared with him why I felt closer to my husband than ever before.  I was the only one who spoke until I said, “I have to leave now.  I’ve got a lot to do.”  He replied softly, “I’m sure you do.”  I felt totally heard and it was heavenly.  Many years later, remembering the power of being truly listened to, I crafted a memento from a thin slice of translucent blue/green agate that resembled an ear at one of Cathy Gawlik’s (David’s wife) Women Gathering retreats to remind me to be a better listener.  It now hangs in the window above my kitchen sink.  It’s been there so long I don’t even notice it any more.  I know I could be a better listener, but listening didn’t feel like it should be my one word for 2015.

I wrestled with other words--freedom, justice, and equality.  They all seem to be wrapped up in the word courage, which I probably will never have enough.  But still courage didn’t feel like the one right word for me.  But it did lead me to the word fear and then I knew I was now getting close to my word.  I thought about the toughest, most fearful time in my life thus far, when I was confronted with my aging parents’ care needs and defied all expectations for my “proper” role.  It was that extreme sense of fear that heightened my presence to my surroundings, everyone in it, and my self worth.  In that awareness, answers to my troubles came from everyday experiences and eventually became my story in “God Never Hurries.” 

So now in 2015 I am wondering do I have to know extreme fear in order to be truly present to my surroundings, others and myself?  I think not.  I could look for the lessons and blessings in what I am experiencing and feeling each day.  I could return to the earth more, where God once touched me, and gave me the courage I sorely needed.  And I could go back to working at sitting quietly everyday and just be with the Word that resides in me.  I am relieved to know my word for 2015 is Presence.

What if we could all find one word in 2015 to help make the world and us a better place to be? 

Monday, December 22, 2014

Ego Resolutions

The Mystery within...

This past week I knew communication from a deep level.  The awareness came to me through a soft, kind voice that sounded as if the Mystery within her was speaking directly to me.  It came from a place where Compassion resides and Kindness rules.  When I walked out into my garage to check on the status of the remaining CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) boxes to be picked up, ending this season’s deliveries, a subscriber was there.  She thanked me for being a pick-up site host and said it is so convenient for her.  I told her I was glad this season is ending.  She wasn’t in a hurry and drew me out to say more.  I felt safe in sharing a bit of pick-up frustrations with her.  Then the Mystery within her said quietly, “Whenever you deal with people there are always problems.”  From my deepest self I heard her helpful words.  Gratefully and humbly I said, “You are right.  Thank you for reminding me of that.”

My garage encounter reminded me of an opening poem I read some thirty years ago in Jennifer James’ book, “Success is the Quality of your Journey.”  The poem was written by the famous Anonymous:

New Year’s Resolutions

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.
 Love them anyway.
If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives. 
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies. 
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. 
Be honest and transparent anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. 
Build anyway. 
People who really want help may attack you if you help them.
Help them anyway. 
Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt.
Give the world your best anyway.
The world is full of conflict. 
Chose peace of mind anyway.

So it is decision time again for me.  Will I be a host pick-up site next year?  It could be fertile ground for ego resolutions and training. 

What if we could always speak to one another from a place where Compassion resides and Kindness rules?

Monday, December 15, 2014

Decision Time

The Mystery within...

My refrigerator suddenly sounded terminally ill. The frozen yogurt was turning to soup.  I was beginning to have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach until I realized I could decide how this new wrinkle was going to affect me.  I reviewed my knowledge and resources. 

I called my neighbor to get the name of a local merchant she recently dealt with who gave her a loaner refrigerator until she could get delivery on a new unit.  She then offered me some of her freezer space temporarily.  I called the dealer and also its service department and heard what I knew I would hear.  Ten years is the average life expectancy for refrigerators today.  I decided I didn’t want to put repair money into an eleven year old one. 

As I drove to the store I remembered how I shuffled some money around after I purchased my new car and held out an extra thousand dollars for emergencies, grateful now for that foresight, as well as my car that got me to the showroom.  There was only one salesman who was on his cell phone--for a very long time.  I hoped it was a really important call.  An office staff person showed me a few models but could not answer all my questions.  When the salesman finally came over he apologized for his call and said he may have to take a call back from his doctor.  He had an anguished look on his face and told me he is having sever back pain.  (I was pleased I decided not to jump to conclusions regarding his cell phone use and that I currently did not have sever back pain.)  My purchase options were limited to color only on one model that would fit in my existing space without moving a cupboard and kitchen counter.  That made my decision easy.  We closed the deal.  I told him I was sorry for his back trouble and he filled out a $50.00 dollar rebate form for me and thanked me for shopping locally. 

I most likely would have saved money if I shopped around but I also gained from my decision to shop locally.  I did not have to drive to a major shopping area, find parking and endure holiday crowds.  I did not get a loaner refrigerator but made due with my helpful neighbor’s freezer space, my forty-year old refrigerator in the basement, and a cool garage.  Instead of a “woe is me” attitude over my refrigerator’s demise I became grateful for the trove of food I have, and that I will be able to pay for a new refrigerator.  I am thankful for all my other appliances that are currently working, and for the large serving spoon I was really missing that turned up under my old refrigerator.  And this change also got me to clean under my stove and mop the kitchen floor—a long time needed accomplishment.  The delivery order was for Monday between 9:00 a.m. and noon, with a note to please be patient if they arrive later, since they may run into problems with earlier deliveries—a nice touch I thought to restrain my ego.  The truck pulled into my driveway at 3:00 p.m. with my acceptance in tack. 

I know all of life’s challenges come with hidden gifts.  Some take longer to realize.  My refrigerator’s demise taught me I can consciously decide to look for them.

What if I, and the rest of us, could approach all of life’s challenges looking for their hidden gifts?           

Monday, December 8, 2014

Key Found!


The Mystery within...

I was amazed at how thrilled I was to find one of my two car key’s that had gone missing about six weeks ago.  When I spotted it at the bottom of my glove/ mitten/hat drawer, my heart leapt for joy with a simultaneous smile and an audible “Thank you!” on my lips.  The intense joy of finding that key surprised me.  I had abandoned actively looking for it but I still harbored some hope it might show up.  And there it was.  And I wanted nothing else that day to detract from my happy find.  And that thought stayed with me as my evening unfolded.

Later I could have gotten perturbed with a friend, who was picking me up for dinner that night, and was an hour late without any definitive explanation.  But I told myself, I’m happy because I found my key and I’m not going to let this detract from the joy I was still feeling. When he picked me up I found out the delay was due to his brother, who was in the hospital for nine days needing a transfer to a psych ward, which the social worker had finally just secured in another hospital, and the move needed to be done that night.  So after we ate dinner, and made a quick stop at my friend’s daughter-in-law’s Christmas craft show, we went to pick up his brother who was supposed to be ready to go at 9:00 p.m., but wasn’t.  During the hour plus wait for him I realized I was on the hospital floor, and very wing, where I once served as a Clinical Pastoral Experience student.  In my mind's eye I saw myself walking those halls back then and realized how much I had discovered within myself and grown in the almost twenty intervening years. I also was able to witness again the awesome care and compassion of some nurses, grateful for that awareness.   Finding my key joy was still intact.

After the three of us got in the van and headed for the other distant hospital, it became apparent the GPS system was taking us in the opposite direction from where we needed to go.  But I just sat in the back seat enjoying the two brothers who interacted like Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman in “Rain Man,” one of my favorite movies.  The GPS was reprogrammed.  We were turned around, and finally arrived at the next hospital’s darkened locked entrance with an outside phone that directed us to the adjacent Emergency door.  I was asked to wait in the car.  The motor was running and the hazard lights were on.  I turned off the motor but could not figure out how to turn off the blinking red lights.  So I sat there for another hour plus aware of a few lit rooms on floors above, where others were caring for the sick, remembering some of my family’s and my need in crisis and healing.  I took stock of how relatively well I still am physically and felt humbling gratitude.  Finding my key joy was still intact.

When my friend returned I told him I could not figure out how to turn off the hazard lights.  He showed me.  He turned the key and there was no response from the engine.  He told me I could have left the engine running.  I just let that comment pass.  I told him there seemed to be security personnel patrolling the area and maybe we could get them to charge the battery.  A short while later we were on our way.  When he dropped me off at my house it was after midnight.  I heated up my leftover spinach stuffed portabella mushroom from the restaurant and finally got in bed in the small hours of the morning.  Finding my key joy was still intact. 

The intense Joy I knew must live deep inside me.  Accepting what is, humbling gratitude, and letting some things pass helps me hold onto it.  What if we all found our lost Key? 

Monday, December 1, 2014

Mashed Potato Parable

The Mystery within...

The Biblical parable of Mary and Martha tells the story of Jesus showing up at their house with the usual crowd that followed him.  Martha is in the kitchen working to put food together for them while her sister Mary sat at Jesus’ feet listening to the Teacher. Martha complains to Jesus that Mary should get in the kitchen and help her.  When Jesus says Martha, you are distracted by many things—Mary has chosen the better part, it will not be taken away…  I identify with Martha.  Thanksgiving was made for us Marthas.  Even so, I was grateful not to be this past holiday’s chief cook and instead was invited to my son and daughter-in-law’s for dinner.  I was assigned to bring the mashed potatoes, which I did, and for good measure also brought a sweet-sour red cabbage dish, because that’s what Marthas do.

Nadia Bolz-Weber, Author of “Pastrix, the Cranky Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint” (which I am currently enjoying) has a little deeper take on what this story means.  She says it's “…not that we are distracted by work itself, but that we are distracted from the better part when we judge the actions of others through the lens of our own personality.     And the more we live our lives in these kinds of judgments about the actions of others, the more distracted we are from the better part…  She also says the main thing we forget is our own sacred story.  I know how easy it is to forget how uniquely different we all are from one another.  Mary, Martha and the Main Thing,” according to Nadia Bolz-Weber, can be found at Sojourner magazine’s blog, “God’s Politics,” where some of her refreshing and poignant 10-minute sermons can also be heard.   

I am happy to be more accepting of the personality who brought the mash potatoes and red cabbage.  I understand, in a new way, how I differ from the preparer of the green bean casserole, and am distinct from the one who brought the cranberry relish, and different too from the fresh green salad provider, and the many bearers of desserts, as well as the preparers of the turkey and dressing.  But all together we created and shared a uniquely tasty, nourishing feast, from our diversity.

What if we all accepted the uniqueness of our own and others’ personalities? 

Monday, November 24, 2014

Immigration Thoughts

The Mystery within...

Garrison Keillor’s November 22, 2014 Prairie Home Companion featured a few thoughts on immigration in a plaintiff song titled, “Tired Old World.”  His voice, the guitar, the melody, the words, all captured the melancholy sadness of the current standoff between some and our president.  I felt encouraged when Keillor’s New York City audience’s heartfelt applause came during and after Keillor’s singing the following words:

“If my heart fails to break at the sight of incredible pain,
Then this tired old world, this crazy time, is having its way.
If my mind understands every ruthless and poisonous act,
Then this tired old world, this crazy time, is having its way.

There’s some people fighting their way through this world all alone.
To care for their families they made our country their own.
If I punish the farm hand, the maid who cleans the hotel,
I’ve lost my compassion and mercy as well as myself.

If my eyes turn away just because I’ve got mine so okay,
Then this tired old world, this crazy time, is having its way.
If my life, on from here, is a life lived and driven by fear,
Then this tired old world, this crazy time, is having its way.

If I ever get to a time when it don’t bother me
to see innocent people degraded like dogs in the street,
who pick our vegetables, now our policemen expel.
Then I’ve lost my compassion and mercy as well as myself.

Men sit in Washington, adamant blocking the way,
while people are suffering, families with nothing to say.
Good people, good workers who want the good things we’ve got.
Have we lost our compassion and mercy?  I trust we have not.

If my heart fails to break at the sight of incredible pain,
Then this tired old world, this crazy time, is having its way.
Tired old world, crazy time, is having its way.
Ohhhhhhhhh.”

Be moved and encouraged.  Listen to Keillor sing and hear the audience applaud on November 22, 2014.  Click on Listen to the show in individual segments,” and then select “Tired Old World.”

What if we show compassion and mercy and let our voice be heard? 

Monday, November 17, 2014

Dying to Live Better

The Mystery within...

The theme of this past Sunday’s service was dying teaches us how to live.  I felt a somber, yet hopeful energy, in the living room of our small gathering of mostly older adults who have lost loved ones and have grown.  But the focus was on our own inevitable end that imparts clarity for what is important in living a more meaningful life.  And while driving to this ecumenical service I had National Public Radio’s, “A Way with Words,” on in my car.  The radio show host commented how using less words are often more powerful.  When the pastor’s wife came and sat beside me after she helped her ailing husband deliver the sermon, I whispered, “Wow!”  She understood, in that one word, a genuine compliment for a job well done, and I understood in my core how less could let me live better.

What do I need less and more of in my life?  Less work, food, and hanging onto things; more play, exercise, listening, patience, acceptance, and letting go.  Learning to say “Yes” and “No” gracefully to others and myself would do the trick.
 
Parker Palmer’s October 15, 2014 On-Being reflection, “The Modern Violence of Over-Work,” tells how he learned to ask: “What do I want to let go of and what do I want to give myself to?”  Since we all have differing challenges, interests and talents, his words seem to be a good query for us all. 

What if we all learned to ask ourselves the right questions for a more balanced life?

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Mourning Politics



The Mystery within . . .
I wished a Native American friend a “Happy Thanksgiving” last week.  She smiled kindly and said, “Thanksgiving is a day of mourning for us.  We give thanks the following Friday.”  And then she invited me to come and join their feast.  My heart, mind and body received her words with grateful clarity and my voice responded, “Oh, I understand.”  The brutal politics of how the United States of America came to be is encapsulated in Native peoples day of mourning.

After the mid-term election results were announced on November 4, I was unable to turn on my television for two days.  I was in mourning and quietly fearful on where our country is heading.  Does not the past brutal formation of this country, and then the decimation of another culture through enslavement, now require remedies?  I am afraid that a powerful political majority will disregard the overwhelming evidence that early childhood programs and quality education for everyone forms the basis for a civil society.  Will the incarcerated know compassion and a chance to start over?  Will the right to vote become more cumbersome, and will more arbitrary lines be drawn to favor one ideology?  Can we justify the ever-growing gap between the wealthiest Americans and the rest of us under the veil of hard work?  Can collective bargaining ever be restored, and will the minimum wage ever be fair?  Will every human being eventually know the right to good medical care?  Is the environment, and the food we eat, in greater jeopardy of more contamination?  And will women, who hold up half the sky, be treated more fairly?  These are some of the things that make me quietly fearful.

The interviewed guest On-Being this week, Joanna Macy – A Wild Love for the World spoke to my distress.  She suggested we be present and fearless with our pain for it eventually reveals our connectedness and love for the world.  I felt common ground with Macy when she told of her growth through the tyranny of her father and subsequently leaving the dogmatic, patriarchal church in which she was raised.  My journey and healing from tyranny is similar to hers and really began in earnest when I was told to “Be not afraid.”  Through Presence, I encountered the grace of multiple Synchronicities on my everyday path.  I gradually learned how to be true to myself and began to understand how profoundly interconnected we are to everyone and all things. 

A Path Appears:  Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunities” is a new book by the same authors of “Half the Sky:  Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” (Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn).  They suggest if we become truly aware of the pain and dysfunction in our world, a path will appear showing how we can be a part of the healing.  I recently listened with keen interest to the audio version of their latest book and their telling of the effectiveness of corporations who take on a humanitarian need as a part of their overall mission.  Corporations have highly skilled people, including effective marketing staff, and can be very successful in promoting and producing needed change in the lives of many.  What would it take to get all of corporate America to take on a humanitarian need as a part of their mission?

What if we all took on a humanitarian need as part of our mission?

Monday, November 3, 2014

Slow Healing


The Mystery within...

Just like slow food cooking is better for you than fast food, I am coming to appreciate the same is true with the slow healing of my knee that I sprained a week ago.  Each day brings a little more mobility, and lessening of pain.  My slower pace allows for more keen observation and reflection.  Even though I really miss being more active, especially outdoors, I have noticed I am less anxious about what isn’t getting done.  I’ve also gotten some help with yard work from my daughter for which I am grateful.  Some ingredients for hanging on to my calm appear to be acceptance for what is, a lowering of expectations for what needs to get done, and becoming more comfortable with needing help. 
  
The On-Being guest Krista Tippett interviewed this past week was timely for me.  He was Dr. Bessel van der Kolk – Restoring the Body:  Yoga, EMDR, and Treating Trauma.  He is also author of “The Body Keeps the Score.”  He spoke of the importance of the social context in how trauma occurs as being very important because the body holds the memory of those sensate experiences.  My initial knee injury and subsequent surgery was the result of a cross-country skiing accident during a January thaw when I went out to work off some significant frustration.  My left ski caught a patch of mud and I did a 180-degree turn on that knee well over twenty-five years ago.  Could my knee need a talking to about its time to forget?  Or is this just a continuing learning benefit from an initial trauma?  This needs further thought and investigation.

My memoir, “God Never Hurries,” is like a cookbook on slow healing from abuse and the significant challenges in caring for parents.  My troubles have been my greatest teachers because they caused me to search for my truth, which I then found in everyday experiences and the natural world.  I learned it’s a lot easier to stay miserable than to make changes in my life.  I came to see everything as a both/and thing, got a grip on my complicity in my troubles, was infused with courage, and came to know true freedom from forgiveness.  And I am now becoming aware of a growing compassion for the other that knows no bounds.  There may be no end to trauma benefits.  Just going deeper. 

What if we saw our traumas as potentially rich training opportunities?  

Monday, October 27, 2014

A Gift in Everything

The Mystery within...

“There’s a gift in everything.”  I heard that this past weekend and I am 99.9% sure it was from Krista Tippett’s On-Being interview with Nadia Bolz-Weber, “Seeing the Underside and Seeing God: Tattoos, Tradition, and Grace.”  I didn’t take notes during the broadcast because I was just laughing a lot and enjoying the fast moving, sometimes hilarious, conversation.  If you ever want to lighten up about religion, it is certainly worth a listen.  I heard the broadcast early Sunday morning, before I sprained my knee in the late afternoon, when grandchildren and their parents were coming for a light supper and then trick or treating in my neighborhood.  As I hobbled around my kitchen in significant pain getting food together, and later resorted to my old crutches, I wondered where’s the gift in my injury?  Just anticipating that there will be one helped me be more accepting of the pain.        

I think there is more than just one gift coming my way.  To start with I am aware of a deeper sense of gratitude for all that I can still do.  First, it is my left knee that is affected which allows me to still be able to drive my car.  Second, I already had an acupuncture appointment for today and have gotten some relief and homeopathic remedies.  Third, I was on two crutches last night and today, just one.  Fourth, cars and people stop for an old lady on a crutch.  Fifth, the staining and varnishing I had to do before my front window replacement could be installed is behind me, and the remaining interior grillwork can wait.  Six, some leaves are already raked and maybe I’ll be well enough to do it again before the last leaf pick-up and final mowing.  Seven, I have plenty of food in the house.  Eight, it is a reminder that I can’t slack off on biking, outside or inside, if I am to keep my knees strong.  Nine, if I don’t heal sufficiently, this could be the final push I need to go for a knee replacement OR maybe I broke sufficient old scar tissue to eventually give me more mobility.  Ten, I could sit and put my feet up and laugh more reading Nadia Bolz-Weber’s book “Pastrix: the cranky, beautiful, faith of a sinner and saint” with an opening line that was said to be unfit for public radio.   

This isn’t the first time I sprained this knee.  In “God Never Hurries” I recount a previous injury when I questioned God, “Why now?  At this most inconvenient time!  Days later several answers came…”

Now I just wish I could find some blessings for my yellow lab, Oliver, who can’t understand why were not going for our daily walk. 

What if we all really looked for the gift in everything?

Monday, October 20, 2014

Please Vote

The Mystery within...

I voted this morning, two weeks ahead of Election Day.  When I turned the corner to the village hall and saw the big American flag gently moving on a slight breeze, I felt a bit of relief in knowing that so far everyone’s right to vote is still protected, and that soon the totally tiresome campaign messages will end.  As I left my early voting ballot with the election workers I ask, “If I should get hit by a bus before November 4, will my vote still be counted?  They assured me it would.  I walked out feeling lighter and more hopeful than when I walked in.  Please vote.

When I got home I looked up the word politics in my Roget’s International Thesaurus and was further encouraged by the first definition:  “politics, polity, the art of the possible, “economics in action” [Robert La Follette].”  The big question today seems to be economics in action for whom?  Is it for some of the people or all of the people?  I much prefer a government of the people, for the people, and by the people.  Please vote.

Parker J. Palmer links politics to our humanity in his book, “Healing the Heart of Democracy:  The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit.”  Following are some excerpted words of Palmer’s thoughts that will give you a better idea of what makes real democracy possible and what it requires of us all:  “…we are all in this together…profoundly interconnected…accountable to one another; …practice deep hospitality…invite ‘otherness’; …hold tension creatively…to expand our hearts…to generate insight, energy and new life; …speak our truth checking and correcting it against the truth of others; …steady companionship of two or three kindred spirits can help us find the courage we need to speak and act as citizens.”  Please vote. 

It is so easy to get totally discouraged with the messiness in our politics.  We the people can help create a politics worthy of the human spirit.  Please vote.

What if we all worked on healing the heart of our democracy?  

Monday, October 13, 2014

A "None" Connection!


The Mystery within...

I was thrilled to come across a pertinent post on Krista Tippett’s On-Being website titled “They Call Us the “Nones,” But We’re So Much More” by Coutney E. Matin.  I began my weekly blog posts on April 1, 2013 with the first post titled “Nun, None or None of the Above.”  It was the beginning of a promise to reflect and write for three years on what I found significant for me in each week.  Though Coutney’s and my path differ significantly in age and life experiences (I left the church of my birth eleven years ago at age 60) we do, however, share a common goal, which in her words is, “looking at the burden and joy of trying to understand how to be a good human.”

Prior to starting my blog there was a period in my life when I reflected and wrote daily for three years as I struggled with a lifetime of dysfunction and my aging parents’ care needs.  I ached for truth and was desperate for answers to heart wrenching problems.  What I needed to know came from the everyday stuff of life.  I learned I could question everything and became aware of the havoc that inappropriate silence wreaks.  I came to know my complicity in my troubles, and that I was worthy of good self care.  I also became keenly aware of the subtle, systemic oppression of women, through religion. My reflecting taught me how to recycle pain and let darkness illumine the light.  Eventually those years of daily reflection and writing turned into my memoir, “God Never Hurries.”  Now this blog, “What if… God Never Hurries,” continues to grow me through reflection and connection adding depth to my life.

What if we all reflected on the everyday stuff of life to grow?          

Monday, October 6, 2014

Season of Mystery


The Mystery within...
I experience fall as a season of mystery.  The air has a melancholy feel and scent. Some life will soon slip into dormancy and wait for spring.  Much of what sprouted in spring and grew through the summer has matured and is preparing for death.  I am reminded of my own mortality and the day to come when I find out what happens to this energy that is me, and will finally know what it’s all about.  Though I love fall best, right now I am preparing for the season to come, the one of introspection and the hibernating bear.  I put away my flowered summer quilt and put the red and beige plaid winter comforter on my bed.  I hauled up storm windows from the basement, standing them up one step at time, and wondered if next year will I have the strength and balance to do it again?  And a necessary major window replacement is happening in my living room this week for which I am staining and varnishing the surrounding woodwork, along with redoing other timeworn windowsills.  I find it hard to believe that I once had the stamina to finish all the woodwork in my house forty years ago.  A lot of seasons have since gone by.     

I feel blessed to live where there are four distinct seasons and look forward to living in the rhythm of each one, and then transitioning to what comes next.  But I can sometimes get tired of winter’s cold, spring’s dampness, and summer’s heat, but I don’t think I could ever get tired of fall.  Its colors are so warm and the air so invigorating.  It makes me feel earthy.  I remember some past unforgettable fall scenes, one going way back before children, when I walked with my late husband on a sunny day at the edge of a dark wood.  There, white birch stood at the edge of the darkness while their sun bright yellow leaves floated lazily to the ground.  I watched in silent awe.  And then there was that perfect autumn bike ride when falling leaves, back dropped against tall pines, fluttered, floated and then dipped to the ground.  Watching them tumble, glide and then tumble again made my tummy tickle.  Being present to each season brings depth to my life, and the deepest occurs in fall.

What if we could all love a season to depth?  What’s your favorite season?