love heals

mjd - offering bowl - 2015

we suffer -

endlessly

over and over

our open

and tender hearts

get battered

beyond recognition.

we are unable 

to see the impermanence

because the pain

is so deep

and so dark.

but so too 

is there love

so too 

is there light. 

love heals.

mjd - offering bowl - 2015

and here's the proof:

despite the cuts

the burns

and the bumps,

you try again

and again

and 

again.

you are not

a glutton

for punishment,

you are a

beautiful

shining

compassionate

loving 

being.

and may you always be.

love is eternal.

poof

because quite frankly that is what it feels like - 


poof... 


yesterday we met with the doctors who said my aunt needed to be placed on hospice in the hospital... they gave her days to weeks... 


stopped by the hospital after dropping the kids off at school this morning, held the phone to her ear so my brother could say what he needed to say... i thanked her for all she had done and let her know i was going to be okay... 


my mom and i left - i headed off to philly with em...


and when i got home, my mom let me know that she left that disease-riddled, pain-filled body of hers at 9am...  


the aggressiveness of her disease and the rapidity of her decline have left me reeling... a mother and her daughter both died this year - my grandmother and my aunt... 

i finished these for my friend to wear to the kaleidoscope of hope walk tomorrow - she lost her sister to cancer 2 years ago... i added sapphires for september - to represent the month of my friend's birth and her sister's passing - bitter sweet... 


who knew those words would apply to my aunt this month - the month of her birth and her passing?


thank you for letting me share this - it all just seemed so surreal... and thank you for all of your support... i am here for you as well -


tomorrow is another day -

bittersweet

"may god give you...

for every storm a rainbow,

for every tear a smile, 

for every care a promise

and a blessing in each trial.

for every problem life sends,

a faithful friend to share

for every sigh a sweet song 

and an answer for each prayer."

~ irish blessing

i do not watch the news on television & only sometimes glance at my google news page - it all affects me way too deeply... the place that i seem to experience the news is in the blogosphere... because here events are attached to people... and they share their feelings... 

i think this week is a perfect example of the bittersweet of life... leann weih having her son at ft. hood and suffering a mother's worry... and cynthia thornton bringing home her sweet baby max and experiencing the throes of joy that accompanies a  newborn's arrival... 

why do we blog? to connect, of course... most of us though, do not completely wear our hearts on our sleeves... things trickle through... 

i think that one of the gifts of blogging is having an opportunity to connect with those we never would have met... and it is clear as one navigates around the 'blogs i follow' that deeper friendships have evolved... how lucky are we? in this chaotic world with so much pain and joy, to find people on the same wavelength... perhaps providing support or bolstering the spirits of those feeling a bit lost... perhaps providing new insights... or giving us moments of much needed laugh out loud tear spilling... (i think we know who this person is, and i have told her that she needs to look into writing a column)... seeing the world from a different point of view - particularly in photos of the natural world and families... for it does not only take a village to raise a child, it takes a village to navigate through life...

i love the insights that artists provide and how they share their creative process... the groups that get together to collaborate... knowing that you can share a 'look what i did' moment with people who get what it is you did...

my everything has been so expanded by this opportunity... and i am so grateful...