Weightless

 

My mother's story is not an easy one to tell. It is entrenched in the weight of love and loss. Yet in her I see such beauty, strength, and capability.

 

I am witness to the magnitude of these lives before me and am reminded to be grateful, act with compassion, and never assume to understand the brevity of the things another life carries.

 

These things we each carry; emotional momentos of love and loss; can define us, both good and bad. In one moment what we carry can force us to be courageous resulting in cathartic empowerment. Yet if gone unchecked these things we carry can gain enough momentum to devour and destroy us. 

 

It is impossible to fully fathom the weight of those things my mother carries. She has felt great loss and bathed in sorrows aftermath. Today, her birthday, if there was only one gift I could give, it would be, if but for a brief moment, to carry the weight of her life. And in that moment of release and acceptance, embrace a chance to exhale.

     

Open Book

 

Our daily rhythm has changed as a new school year begins. Ninty days of summer here and gone. Stolen with it are the easy mornings where children patter around outside in their pajamas, late night star gazing, and a mission in life to do absolutely nothing. Yet, it is so wonderful to watch these young lives, the open books they are, full of empty pages waiting for them to write their stories. 

 

 

Hank 2nd Grade

 

                                Elea Kindergarten