Misty Memories

An expanse of deep blue calm stretched before me. At my feet, my old red canoe waited patiently for me. Cool water rose to my ankles while I pushed and floated my old friend forward. In this calm sea, I was confident that a short dip on the sea would lift my heart. My old fibreglass canoe had seen many, many times of family fun. I remembered the island that our little family had paddled to, the fishing trip when I lost my fish to my son on the other side of the canoe, the many days when I helped lift the canoe up or down from the canoe. This wide, calm blue in the early setting sun uplifted my heart, memories floating to my mind’s eye. Mist rolled toward us as I beached my old friend. We sat quietly, sided by side on the cooling sand.

“In every conceivable manner, 

the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.”

~ Alex Haley

Future Designs

Here’s a couple of real fun questions…..
Where would you like to go when you die?
What is your perfect afterlife?

I’m not big on thinking about death. 
Especially my own. 
At 69 - and some would say early in year seventy - 
thoughts of death are just a bit too close for comfort.

Ah, but that second question - 
What is my perfect afterlife?

It is an afterlife of great beauty and enchanting stories

• and no money - no greed - no fighting

An afterlife full of colour, music and dancing
balanced with deep silence and even deeper peace

And a lot of discussion of 
Philosophy, theology and ethics
Maybe with Socrates and Plato, 
Aristotle and Hippocrates

All of us sitting around a granite fountain in our fine woven togas
Blue sky, great white mountains of clouds and brilliant sunshine
Flowers, trees and whatever landscape that fit the discussion.
And dogs - big dogs, sleek and beautiful  - just because they are fun
And glorious, handsome cats - if they deign to share their afterlife with me.

Family and friends?
Each of us have our own earthly lives - and in this muse
We each have our own afterlife
With visits of love and joy coming with merely a beckoning thought

So if there is an afterlife ~
and I won’t know if there is one
‘til I trip over the fine line between life and death ~
I can dream of any kind of perfection that I choose.

“There is a place called ‘heaven’ 

where the good here unfinished is completed; 

and where the stories unwritten, and the hopes unfulfilled, 

are continued. We may laugh together yet.”

~ J.R.R.Tolkein

New Experiences

New experiences are always fun
Scary
but fun
scary like when I’m

six years old
On the first day of school
a real teenager
On the first day of high school

Moving into the big city
On the first day of nursing school.
Becoming a new mom
To hold the beautiful new life

New homes, new neighbourhoods, new cities
Each one full of firsts
Each one full of promise and hope
First days always just around the corner

Imagined whispers of judgement from all the
new faces
    new voices
         new ideas

My ego feeling vulnerable
while tonight’s cheerful chatter and laughter
lifts me up in the warmth and I know that
new experiences are always fun.

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost,

to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

~  Eleanor Roosevelt

Wonder

I wonder if 
flying away from this too real world
would carry me into the Magic World of Writing

I wonder if
I could climb on a dragon’s back and sail
over mountains and lakes until
freed from the gremlins below

I wonder if
I could set myself down on a grassy plain
bare feet cool in the dew soaked grass

I wonder if 
I could wriggle my toes into
the deep roots of my life

I wonder if
savouring the experiences of my history
would show me unknown gifts and treasures

I wonder if
taking all my gifts and my treasures
up to the mountaintop, I could climb on my dragon
flying away over the land once more.

I wonder if 
these seeds of creativity
will sprout and grow with tender care.

I wonder if
these treasures and gifts offered to the Universe,
the home of clouds, moon and stars
will become stardust and moonrays

I wonder if
my life has meaning and depth
that still grows strong and bright each day.

I wonder if
all of that travel can be glorious fun ~ 
a journey of joy and endless discovery.

“The world is full of magic things, 

patiently waiting for out sense to grow sharper.”

~ W.B.Yeats

Into the Dance

Natural rhythms lead the way
into a dance ~ flowing, spinning and fun, embracing the goodness of life full of truth and kindness.

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane 

by those who could not hear the music.”

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Unique Distractions

Unique spins on the ordinary,
blind us to what is real.

Unique spins on the ordinary,
take fun and twist it into fear.

Unique spins on the ordinary,
challenge us to be alert.

“…shiny trinkets and frivolous spending 

make people forget what world they’re living in.”

~ Beth Lewis, The Wolf Road

Gentle Waves

Favourite places and times
roll over each other
all the fun times
all the places where fun was born
polished in gentle waves of memory

“The past beats inside me like a second heart.”

~ John Banville, The Sea