I am enjoying the quiet days of summer. I have the luxury of reading poetry and listening to music all afternoon. As I look back over this summer's wonders, I officiated for my sister in law's beautiful country wedding, I've made a pilgrimage to the mountains, had some excellent "Dawbee" time being with grandchildren and having a magic whirlwind romance with Professor Tick Tock at Dragonquartz School of Human Greatness and Wizardry. I've listened to "Where the Crawdads Sing," on Audible. I got to spend 4 incredible hours with the poet, David Whyte. I happened to read this today from his book Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words. "Rested, we are ready for the world but not held hostage by it... In rest we reestablish the goals that make us more generous, more courageous, more of an invitation."
As per his advice, I am taking care of my future self this month by visiting a gym, unscheduling when I can, watering the fruit trees, and walking in nature. I am looking forward to a 6 day silent retreat later this month with time for a deeper kind of rest and then a trip to see my mother's best friend, Alicia, who kept her promise to my mother that she would watch over her children after her death. I was 9 that year and Alicia had the heartbreaking job of telling my little sister and I that our mother had died on Mother's Day of 1964. Alicia has never once failed (in 55 years) to send us birthday and Christmas greetings and little gifts. She came from California to Texas for our weddings, she gave me safe harbor during a mid-life crisis point, inspiring me to take the GRE and go get my Master's Degree. Leading by example, she had earned her Master's after turning 70. The seeds of our Inside Outside School were sown through the influence of my amazing professors at Texas State, one thing leading to another. Alicia has been one of my three significant mother figure/superhero role models for being a strong, courageous woman. Because of Alicia, I was not a motherless child. She never saw us as just someone else's children. With all this to treasure in my summer life, I sit here in my air conditioned home, worrying about other people's children held at our borders and how impotent my friends and I have been feeling about this situation. How can we help? Well, I asked, and then I read about TogetherRising.org, supported by women I respect greatly like Brene Brown and Elizabeth Gilbert. There are people who are in a position to do something. I heard about them during their LOVE FLASH MOB. Offering financial support is action, something I can do to help. I can also share this here with whomever reads this post...planting seeds. I found the following inspiring words in conjunction with information about The Compassion Collective...
Starting today, we’re taking back Mother’s Day. We’re returning to the roots of this holiday in the spirit of Julia Ward Howe, the abolitionist and suffragette who wrote the “Mother’s Day Proclamation” in 1870. It was a call to action asking mothers to unite in promoting world peace.
Here’s the gist, as beautifully shared on The Compassion Collective:
Mother’s Day IS about Love. But it’s not about commercial, comfortable love that snuggles up and stays home—it’s about love that throws open the door and marches out of our homes, beyond our fences and neighborhoods and into the hurting world to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, comfort the hurting, mother the motherless. Mother’s Day love is dangerous, revolutionary love that unites our one human family and reminds us that we belong to each other and that there is no such thing as other people’s children.
Perhaps this blog is all over the place, but as I take care of myself, tend my garden and prepare to watch over someone else's children at the end of summer, I hope to become more generous, more courageous, more of an invitation," more like Alicia. Namaste
As per his advice, I am taking care of my future self this month by visiting a gym, unscheduling when I can, watering the fruit trees, and walking in nature. I am looking forward to a 6 day silent retreat later this month with time for a deeper kind of rest and then a trip to see my mother's best friend, Alicia, who kept her promise to my mother that she would watch over her children after her death. I was 9 that year and Alicia had the heartbreaking job of telling my little sister and I that our mother had died on Mother's Day of 1964. Alicia has never once failed (in 55 years) to send us birthday and Christmas greetings and little gifts. She came from California to Texas for our weddings, she gave me safe harbor during a mid-life crisis point, inspiring me to take the GRE and go get my Master's Degree. Leading by example, she had earned her Master's after turning 70. The seeds of our Inside Outside School were sown through the influence of my amazing professors at Texas State, one thing leading to another. Alicia has been one of my three significant mother figure/superhero role models for being a strong, courageous woman. Because of Alicia, I was not a motherless child. She never saw us as just someone else's children. With all this to treasure in my summer life, I sit here in my air conditioned home, worrying about other people's children held at our borders and how impotent my friends and I have been feeling about this situation. How can we help? Well, I asked, and then I read about TogetherRising.org, supported by women I respect greatly like Brene Brown and Elizabeth Gilbert. There are people who are in a position to do something. I heard about them during their LOVE FLASH MOB. Offering financial support is action, something I can do to help. I can also share this here with whomever reads this post...planting seeds. I found the following inspiring words in conjunction with information about The Compassion Collective...
Starting today, we’re taking back Mother’s Day. We’re returning to the roots of this holiday in the spirit of Julia Ward Howe, the abolitionist and suffragette who wrote the “Mother’s Day Proclamation” in 1870. It was a call to action asking mothers to unite in promoting world peace.
Here’s the gist, as beautifully shared on The Compassion Collective:
Mother’s Day IS about Love. But it’s not about commercial, comfortable love that snuggles up and stays home—it’s about love that throws open the door and marches out of our homes, beyond our fences and neighborhoods and into the hurting world to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, comfort the hurting, mother the motherless. Mother’s Day love is dangerous, revolutionary love that unites our one human family and reminds us that we belong to each other and that there is no such thing as other people’s children.
Perhaps this blog is all over the place, but as I take care of myself, tend my garden and prepare to watch over someone else's children at the end of summer, I hope to become more generous, more courageous, more of an invitation," more like Alicia. Namaste
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