Life is before me to live with what I’ve been shown alongside love and grief. 

I can choose to find meaning and do what comes next as the rhythm of the day comes to me. 

It comes with what I was shown by two people about living and dying. 

These are the days that I’ll remember alongside the two people that taught me over many years.

Some days were to live with what can be imagined. Other days were to let things, ideas and people die when it was time.

They are also the days that showed me that some days were to live with what can be imagined.

Other days were to let things, ideas and people die when it was time. 

Think about this as we move along.

When ‘it was time’ can become the thing that is exceptional for each person. 

As it was for the two people you see here. They brought grand moments of living 

This is Brandon and Dallin, dad and son, the two who were joyful and tied so tightly together that when the day started, it was usually with a smile. 

The smiles are what we lived with as we found meaning and love.

The smiles you see here is what we lived with as we found meaning and love. 

This is how living came to us as we bounced along as if the day were like this trampoline and we were here to greet it with a steady rebound. 

Bouncing in sync, doing it with a smile as broad as what you see here and keeping a steady gaze into the other person’s eyes was a part of life. 

How can we look steadily at another person when life seems to bring the ups and downs that may come?

Perhaps it can come when you hold up your hands to balance yourself as life comes to you. 

You’ll see it here as Brandon raised his hands high to gain more height during jumping. 

The goal was to add more height to the bounce during each lively time on the trampoline and to keep a steady look into Dallin’s eyes. 

This look was to make sure that we saw what was coming next. 

Not all parts of life were fun and games, even if that was what we held as our main goal

Imagine that with me as we go into the next part of the music.

Dance with the parts that led us to live and let die along the way.

It was one part that continued to come as we began to dance with the parts that led us to live and let die along the way. 

This can be strummed and drummed within the song with the same name by Paul McCartney that came to us many years later in the movie Shrek the Third. 

As the song plays, there is a frog king that is near death as he is surrounded by those who love him.

Being surrounded by people who love was important during the scene supported by the music you can hear with a steady beat. 

A soft melody line is followed by a short boom, boom, boom then flowing string musical section. 

Showing that ‘it was time’ for the frog king to die and for other parts of the story.

Showing that ‘it was time’ for the frog king to die and the other parts of the story to come into play. 

What does this mean when I am looking for meaning with these two? 

Could I look for a time when a soft melody of life with love and joy, bouncing and finding balance turns into when ‘it was time’ for something different? 

This came to me when the bouncing changed and a trampoline was put away. 

Indeed, when a trampoline and a steady gaze was changed for an I love you being set in stone that became unimaginable. 

And then, this was also taught to me. 

It’s what I now know. 

Sometimes it’s an idea that love ends when a person is no longer seen bouncing in front of you that needs to die and be changed. 

Or the idea that a rhythm of life will go as before, when grief is present, is what needs to be changed.

Imagine that. 

It came through a steady rhythm that these two in the picture always showed through their ability to bounce through each change, in life and in death. 

Through love and loss, grief and mourning. 

Will I be able to hold onto the essence of all of it that Dallin held throughout his life?  

That is the continual goal. 

One that Brandon and I create each day with every bounce and jostle with a steady gaze. 

Today, we can each choose to do one thing that will help us through today with meaning. 

What is your one thing? 

Let’s do it together. 

There have been moments when time seems to go on around me without me noticing that the clock hands have moved. 

When I’ve been paying more attention to the moment at hand, the feelings around me and the people I’m with than anything else. 

The sun may have moved across the sky without me looking up one single look time. 

Or the other things on my never-ending to-do list was left undone that day. 

It could be when I realized that finding a rhythm was also when I found flow in time. 

Flow for me has come many times.

Flow for me has come many times. 

It is now that I ask myself, ‘How am I the one to be so blessed as to have this flow in a space of time come?’ 

My answer started when I saw this picture stay in my mind. 

Let’s examine what we see here. 

A full belly laughs with head thrown back in delight. 

A mouth that is wide open to throw laughter across an entire home. 

Hands that are clasped in nearness.

Remnants of a party is seen behind for others to be a part of the scene with soft drinks for many people. 

There are even hand drawn decorations in the background as proof that time was taken to prepare for this gathering. 

When flow is created, a space in time shows what can happen.

When flow is created, a space of time shows what can happen. 

Other information can also be seen in this scene. 

Trust and love prevailed in this instance. Trust that his laughter would be matched by others. 

Laughter would be joined with other heads being thrown back in delight and joy. 

In fact, every time this type of party was scheduled, flow happened. 

Do you wonder how that could be? 

Sometimes that came to be because everyone here, including the one whose head was thrown back laughing, was absorbed in the joyful moments.

It took years of practice, years of laughing with people who were trusted to become immersed in the time together. 

Nothing else matters when flow is in a space in time.

Nothing else matters when flow is in a space of time. 

What I found is that this came to the person you see here with precision. It was as if he found flow as a part of his essence. 

The essence that came with our son, Dallin. 

He is the one who became more than we could imagine and taught me how to find flow in moments like this. 

Have you been around someone like Dallin?

Someone who knows where their space is in the universe. That there is a ‘you’ shaped spaced made only for them 

Isn’t that a spectacular idea? 

I found this from Caroline McHugh in her ‘The art of being yourself’ details.  That is indeed the way we can think of it. 

Now is the time to think of your space in the universe. Does it include a time and place to find how your art could be created? 

When the moments of life begin to joyfully and completely pull you in, to be present in your life. 

It can also be when you find the person near you, maybe even right next to you, to throw your head back and laugh every time you can. 

To show you that you are in flow, in your space in time and in life for that moment. 

Can you feel it come over you? 

My time and space often created moments to pause for every blooming thing that came to me, and to our son. 

This then flowed into other parts of life, with such love that the world seemed to slow and allow for the happiness to bubble up again and again. 

What I now know is that flow is the space of time. 

Let the flow be present with you every time it comes to you.

I start with a note of gratitude as the month of love continues. 

Watching as moments of adoration have gathered around me in the recent weeks. 

It’s as if the small signs that said ‘Welcome to your life’ greeted me as I stood in my soft socks, 

and stayed with me as memories entered into the scene.

Then the music of the moment came to me with the joyfulness of my two steps. 

It starts with jazzy pop music that leads to a drumming strum to keep the feet moving. 

My feet have felt the rhythm as this month settles in as other moments enter.

The chance to be welcome to your life.

Tears for Fears sings about the chance to be welcome to your life in the song ”Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” 

Come sway side to side with me as we think about how being welcomed in life can come with a few decisions and visions together. 

Let’s say that we believe in one basic part of life and then go forward with that for our life. 

I have done that and you can see it here. 

LOVE is what has led me in life. 

Doing it with a pop that leads with speed and also a joyful reminder that there is no turning back. 

This month of love grew to show me what I now know.

I’ve thought about these two questions as this month of love grew to show me what I now know. 

Question one is about doing things with love as life welcomed me with bits that were surprising. 

When I was young and thought I knew what I was doing, I began to dream about adventure and being out in the world. 

I loved this thought! 

Could I do this while being a ninja? I could climb, jump and help others quietly so it seemed to be a natural fit. 

Yes, this was a quest that my young child’s mind wondered about until the next dream with adventures came to be. 

Here’s what I was looking for when I talked about being a ninja then, and now. The confidence and abilities of being prepared in any situation. This could include regular life and other threats. 

I can still do this with love so I am finding ways to continue with confidence in any situation. 

It was later while still wanting adventure and looking at what was before me that the walls began tumbling down. 

Building the walls while dancing with two steps and more love came next. 

This time it was being able to bring a welcomed life to our son.

The next questions came about nimble enough to still jump and help others, only this time it was being able to bring a welcomed life to our son. 

Life turned like a record on a turntable at this time and it also turned out that love ruled the world for us. 

I became synchronized with him, and I made decisions based on this word, this love for all time. 

Those are the questions that came to me. My answers are what I now know. 

Doing all things with love as I welcomed life and never wanted to turn back when I was with our son. 

Becoming nimble, still like a ninja at times while finding adventure, to create vision as I continue without him now. 

Turns out that I did become the person who welcomed life with all of the love.

Doing this with pop and dreams that build as love will always be one basic part.

That’s love and I’m grateful.

Finding your questions and answers is the quest we can continue here together.

The layers of my grief look like a couple of things I’ve come across in life.

Over the years I’ve attempted to make a few things that seem to make me shake my head and stand back. 

Recently, I made a pie and that’s where the similarity stood out. 

Grief is like layers of a pie.

Grief is like layers of a pie. The bottom or beginning of grief is new and it seems ok.  

Then there is the middle with all the emotions that can pile up like ingredients. This is where it can feel mixed up, as if life will never be the same again. 

Finally, there is the top which can be disguised with a light crunch or sugar topping and then it is finally discovered that grief here is bumpy and ever changing!

As I watched the pie being made I found that while I thought I knew what I was doing it was surprising to find that a little adjustment was needed throughout the process. 

This pie is in the middle with the ingredients piled high. 

There are dots of butter to add more flavor, and that edge of the first layer can still be seen. 

Seems to be okay from this view, doesn’t it? 

This is where we can stand back and start to see more, my friends. 

The grief that comes in layers made me pause.

The grief that comes in layers made me pause as I made this pie. 

What if the ingredients inside were to change as another person wanted smooth chocolate filling instead of apples? 

How would those changes be seen by others in grief? Could they be adapted to be like a chameleon? 

Or is there only one way to make a pie and to grieve? 

Here is what I explored the day I rolled out the bottom layer that looks like it fits in the pie plate. 

I thought about how I didn’t know what I was doing at all in the first years after our son died, when I showed up for work and hoped to remember my password or where a file was on my computer. 

What I also hoped for was that others around me were kind and would help me seem ok. 

That world of seeming ok with all of it rolling forward did happen for me.

I sat with the messy middle of grief.

So, I sat with that for a time and then went into the messy middle of grief. 

Have you felt the messy middle while others were with you? 

The pile up of emotions ranged from chunks of disbelief that Dallin, our son, was no longer in our home, to gratitude for a life with our son. 

Then to sudden memories of who we were with him slipping down my cheeks as the tears would jump forward. 

Mounds of emotions needed to be felt and seen even when it seemed like life would never be the same again.

Truth came with this, as life never was the same again as part of the messy part, the piles of feeling continued and I felt them all. 

I began to be interested in this part of grief that I didn’t need to understand it all. I only experienced life and grief and wonder here and now.  

For me, there are many ways to make a pie and to experience grief. Being present with it was part of feeling and being then. 

The top is where I am now at times. 

I sit with the thought of ever being complete with grief, as I have found that it is truly ever changing.

For me, grief means I have loved and I will love our son forever. 

So, I will grieve and remember forever.

Loving and living with a bumpy ever-changing life is how to roll out the top of the pie.

Loving and living with a bumpy ever-changing life is how to roll out the top of a pie. 

Will it sometimes cover a delicious layer of ingredients piled high and dotted with more flavor? 

Yes, most likely. 

I will also most likely continue to have a pile of emotions with the grief that comes in layers. 

For me that means that joy, resilience, confusion, wonder, and sadness all create this life that can bring experience. 

Some days are smooth like that bottom layer or like different filling. 

Other days are bumpy like a top layer of pie that is part of grief and love, life and sorrow. 

What are your layers of grief bringing you? 

Let’s discover them here together.

Imagine a time when you can hear violins in the background. 

What do you feel? 

Is it a calm that comes over you? 

Do you think about the music before the first chair? 

Or are there times when you let your head lay back then energy comes to your mind and body? 

Feel all of that as you think of this. 

Wonder if there is more when music begins. 

A steady rhythm with a beat that helps you rise off the chair comes into play. 

Aahh, now there is something coming with a song in your space. 

This is how the song starts that can pull me back in time to this phrase. 

Come On has been with my steps and I’ve rolled.

Come on Eileen by Dexy’s Midnight Runners has been with my steps and how I’ve rolled for longer than I’ve been in life since my feet danced with friends all night.

The time when I would be at school during the day, go to work then would rush off to more fun with friends to have more energy pulse through me. 

Can you imagine a part of you being around for decades? Then it changes or evolves. 

That is what I’ve been rumbling with recently. 

When I hear a violin, I want to rush forward with the same kind of joy that comes with this music. 

Too Ra Loo raaaaa then the music trails off with more of the steady beat. 

It was never a surprise for me that my feet began to tap when the song came on. 

What did surprise me later was when our son also began to also love the song. 

Then when he began to say come on!

Then when he began to say come on! 

Let’s dance! 

and away we’d go.

Dancing up and down the hallway, then around into a small kitchen before glancing with a joyful smile and adding some sign telling me that he wanted to go around again. 

He became my muse, that one who showed me the way through a second act of life, and the one who was more that could be imagined. 

How is it that one simple pull of a violin bow can bring such excitement to us. 

It was a beautiful turn and swing of our new rhythm that came into play when I learned from him. 

Let’s pay attention to this part of life, mom. 

Can you see that life is important right now? 

Come on, there’s no time to waste, mom.

Here we go again!

Come on, there’s no time to waste, mom. 

There is a complex resilient joy that comes with this song. 

It pulls at me like a bow across the violin strings. 

Slow, steady, mournful, quick, steady, calm and full of emotion. 

Can you see that all of this came to me with this song over time? 

Over moments that surprise me and jostle with like I’m back to living the life of work, the off for more fun. 

Isn’t that how it goes? 

Living and looking forward and being pulled into it all with a violin at the blink of an eye. 

What I now know is that I’m here for it all. 

I’m also grateful for the boy who loved to dance across the house with a smile in his eyes. 

His life still pulls at me and tells me to come on, let’s keep going together. 

What love in all of this, my friends.

Now that I have some time, I’d like to share some tales of two that I love. 

They are the ones I didn’t know were going to come to me. 

When they came, it was as if they were coming back to town after a long time away. 

Even if it feels like I step away from town to feel it all. 

It’s what came next that brought a smile to my face.

The smile has lasted for over 35 years, so I think I’ll stick with it, alongside all that life has brought to me. 

A beginning introduction is the best place to start. 

Let’s begin with day one. 

The first one of these boys who came to me brought a smile and play with him right away. 

It started with side glances to catch his eye. Was he going to look back or should I not look over again?  

Was there more to discover? There was, indeed, my friends. 

It was then that I noticed a dimple when he smiled. 

Oh, there it was. The game was on, and I knew this boy was one who could have fun and be kind. 

Music came along next and the hours-long conversations began. 

We could be found learning together, leaning in to eat good food together and then asking big questions. 

It was as if the song was made for us.

It was as if the song by Thin Lizzy, The Boys Are Back In Town, was made for us. 

People could start to spread the word around that we were answering questions with a fun yes as we began the next moments. 

Are you wondering about the other boy? 

Here’s where the joy of life not only doubled but increased tenfold.

The best of the best and the boy who became more than we could imagine. 

This boy was also a twin of the first one with a smile that brought joy.  

It is what brings me joy to this day. 

When I think of one of these boys, I think of the other. 

They are so closely tied to each other that they could mimic the other. 

Their mannerisms were similar and if I looked at them from the time the young boy joined our life, I found that he wanted to be just like the other. 

Can you see that the first one is the dad and the young one is the son? 

They were truly tied to one another by their lineage and by their smiles. 

Their joy of being back in town together.

By their love and their joy of being back in town together. 

One way I knew this to be true is how our son, Dallin, would leap up every time Brandon came home from work. 

The magic of hearing that laugh, seeing the smile and feeling the bounce every time they met at the door was incredible. 

Being able to say Oh, Hello! In words, light and souls meeting souls was always powerful. 

These two were best friends and they would do anything to spend time together for decades.

They would dance, clean, read the paper, decorate, help others, and laugh. Music led them in all of this. 

Do you see that it comes back to the smiles every time? 

It did for them and it does for me. 

This is what I now know. 

I’m getting ready to get back in town and remember what these boys did.

Perhaps that is why I can look up when I’m ready to get back to town and remember what these boys did for many years. 

Looking up brings me a view that broadens my horizons, shows me colors of the world and reminds me that there is always more to learn from the boys in my life. 

Spending time with someone who smiles when I walk in the door and is ready to play has brightened life and brought joy. 

To have two of them in my life is beyond what I could have imagined. 

Let’s keep dancing together as the music brings us rhythm and joy alongside life, love and what comes next.

The story started out like this. 

I was out in my yard cleaning up after the fall harvest of apricots years ago. 

There were as many of the small orange fruit smooshed onto the grass and the dirt as there were in my bucket. 

What had changed from taking it one day at a time?

How was that possible? This was something that I’d done for years as a child without a thought so what had changed from taking it one day at a time to now? 

There was no more taking it moment by moment or not worrying about the next day.

It felt like I had been out in the morning sun for hours and then I looked up. 

Suddenly, I realized that what had been a seemingly quick job had become a never-ending chore.

Those easy days were gone as I began to think about the change. 

Deep thoughts began to twist as the path before me played out in my mind. 

Perhaps this chore of cleaning up hundreds of smashed pieces of fruit was what small children did to help. 

More twisted tales began to form in my mind. 

‘Is that what I’m now here for, to clean up at the end of a season?’ 

‘If that’s what I’m here for then what else will I only be ok for.’

‘Ok is not ok with me so y’all better get ready for what is coming.’

The beginnings of a spiral instead of taking a breath.

My friends. Do you see the beginnings of a spiral that was taking place instead of taking a breath? 

This is only the beginning of what came to me the day of the fateful encounter with an apricot tree. 

Let’s continue as I reflect on that time. 

The apricots began to smoosh and smash their way into the bag until I found myself tossing them as I remembered things that others had said to me. 

Over the years, people had said some peculiar and some unkind things, so as I tossed, these things were recited from memory. 

First, came the things said about our son. 

You know, he doesn’t belong here. 

Of course, he can’t do that so why do you try? 

Then, came the blatant words said about me in life. 

Do you know you’ll never be a grandma? 

You’ll never know what it’s like. Why are you here? 

How did you survive what happened to you? 

I forgot to take life one day at a time.

With each memory, I forgot how to take life one day at a time. 

Did these people know what they were saying at the time? My heart broke again and again. 

Instead, I began to feel hot tears on my cheeks and blurred my vision. 

As if the salt was cleansing me and giving me something new to pay attention to. It was then that the fruit came back to me. 

Tossing the warm wet fruit became something more as I grew to feel the power in the statements that had been said. 

Had been said, as those words were not said for long in our world. 

They did sting as they hit me the first time, so it was time to let them go. 

I could feel it in the moment. 

So, I let them go with an underhanded pitch into the bag as I stood up. 

To let it out and say to my mind that I was done with those thoughts and memories. 

They were not going to hold onto me for one more day.

They were not going to hold onto me for one more day. 

As I pummeled the side of the bag with a pile of apricots, I began to remember other things. 

Yes, with tears streaming down my face and with more energy being gathered from my toes to my fingertips. 

This time I remembered the boy who became more than we could imagine. 

The boy who stood up every time he wobbled and truly took life one day at a time. 

Until that last day when he decided that he would look up at us, with a big smile, and tell us what he would remember. 

That life was also about including a year of play. 

Joy, love, life. 

Power, being a child, going forward. 

I can now look at what remains of that apricot tree and pause with a smile because of what I do one day at a time. 

Even now, during the time of the harvest. 

Days are getting shorter so I am looking for the sun every chance I get right now. 

Truth be told, I’m known as one who seeks out the sun every chance I get. 

It could be that I’m like others who have come before me who also love the sun. 

In fact, there was a time when I could visit with one who not only enjoyed being out in the heat but would smile when a song about the sunshine began. 

You are my sunshine has been sung for over 80 years!

Perhaps you’ve heard  You are my sunshine, which has been sung by Gene Autry and dozens of other artists for more than 80 years. 

Can you hear it in your soul as a soft toe tap begins? 

Set yourself under a tree with bits of light coming through or on the front porch with a season change before us. 

I’ve fixed myself on a small porch step next to a sidewalk that leads to a small front grass in my memories. 

Yes, there is green grass growing all around the yard until it meets a long driveway and garage. 

Sunshine is what I felt when I sat on the small porch next to the one who introduced me to this rhythm and roll. 

Let me tell you about the person who had a soft tone of voice, who was on the lookout for notes in her mailbox from family and had a knowing gleam in her eye. 

My grandma was all knowing, or so I always thought, as I saw her on rare occasions. 

She was a treasure to me that I held dear. 

I’ve been learning from her my entire life and it started with the way the words from her so easily made me happy then. 

You knew you were the sunshine around her.

You knew you were the sunshine around her. 

Even the up and down of the horn in this song seemed to tell a story that grew over time.

Like the knowledge that came from this treasured song, I came to know more as life grew with me. 

I’ll share a little more about how this looked one time later in my life. 

Life brought this tune back to me as I sat next to this grandma as time brought us together when we were both older. 

The songs of life were sung as hands were held by one other who also held her closely. 

Seeing this brought me a pause and a way to see into my future. 

It was as if the sun was telling me how to start.

It was as if the sun was telling me how to start with the sunrise.

Yet, here it was years before I would need it. 

Can you imagine being given a gift such as this? 

Friends, take this moment to gather your energy and take someone by the soft hand with compassion then see into your past. 

Do this with such kindness that you can see the happiness when your skies look like this above you. 

Full of clouds and with light peeking around the soft corners. 

That is what I was given when the sunshine song was softly shared on the small porch the last time I sat near this grandma. 

Her hands were being held by two of her sons, my dad and a younger uncle. 

The calm in her eyes made me yearn for that in my own life for ever more. 

Skies above that day were blue, gray, and cloudy then wispy with a slight breeze. 

Does my soul remember this like it has been imprinted into my very neurons? 

Indeed it was as there was both joy and grief. Love and wonderment for what may be coming one day for all in the space. 

It did make me yearn to bring that back from that porch to my own home.

How can this happen? 

It seems to be answered in the very notes and lines of the song. 

You are the sunshine, create love and happiness.

You are the sunshine and make others create love and happiness.

More astounding than that is what has come to me since this moment. It’s what I’ve learned about how to live.. 

Love seems to always be the way through for me,

in the way I’ll always love this song

and the grandma who brought it to me. 

It will always bring me more than joy as the music will not leave me. 

What I now know is that I can continue to find a rhythm, remember to hold onto the soft and stay with what my soul has taught me. 

Doing this with grief and love is how life has taught me to see all the colors with the sunshine. 

Let’s do this together, my friends.

I took some time recently to reflect on times that had come to me over many years. 

There were days that rolled into my mind that brought lightness and joy and other moments that seemed to bring a pause as feelings bubbled over my eyes and down my cheeks. 

As I sat a few times, I could see a shadow of myself suddenly becoming more solid in my vision. 

My beginning was here. 

Days from long ago when my view of the world was open. My goals were to have fun, get to a playground with snacks at the ready and laugh with the small one who was with me. 

These days brought sun kissed cheeks, ice cold popsicles, piles of soft stuffed animals that tumbled with laughter and fast tracks of naps before another part of the day began. 

A ball cap was at the ready for both of us as the days seemed to melt into one another. Throwing on a cap made it so we were ready to play fast and save time every day. 

There was never enough time before dinner needed to be made, bath toys filled the water around soft toes and then books were read to bring calm to a joyful chaos.

This was a life I didn’t know I was going to love being in. 

Now I was finding flow in each moment with this young one. 

Chaos became part of the game as more shadows cleared up.

Chaos became part of the game as more shadows cleared up before me the longer I sat. 

I caught a deep look at what I was before and realized these two things. 

Changes have indeed come to me as I am now a shadow of myself after this beginning. 

It was almost a surprise as I saw this come before me one day.  

I had been with my husband in the sunshine to help him help others. 

This was what we did for years before and now I was back with him, one more time. 

As I trampled across the grass I glanced to my right. 

This view came to me, and I needed to stop. 

What made me stop, my friends? 

This was the view. It was who I was so many decades before. 

Do you see what is outlined? My heart rolled over one more time.

It was a reminder of the collateral beauty that had been in my life. 

The cap on my head and the long comfy shirt is what I wore with that young one who was ready to have snacks and play. 

Can you feel a quick nap coming on as the energy with emotions flow over you? 

Feeling a pause, gratitude, joy, grand memories, enthusiasm, and yearning for those years came to me all again. 

This is when I found the second part of having a shadow of myself.

I’ll tell you that this is when I found the second part of having a shadow of myself presented back to me. 

There were times when I didn’t know what to do with the feelings that came. 

It was then that I knew that I needed to learn more. Shadows can come with what is unknown and I decided I wanted to know about the feelings. 

What I learned was that emotions are part of life. All that I had been through was okay. 

My shadows were a part of me. It turns out that knowing about emotions was good, powerful and brought me gratitude that day.

Perhaps that is why my eye caught the shadow to my right.  

Being reminded of my shadows and my purpose has created a reason to look forward to the sunlight. 

It also helped me follow each feeling and let them flow. 

Have you wondered how you have become who you are now? Are the shadows of your life in the corners of your eyes?

Follow them with me. They may show you where you are going next!

There’s been some celebrating going on around here lately. 

Times have come when I’ve found that I want to be in spaces and places where I can look up, down and all around for this. 

It seems that moments are here for me to say ‘I’ll circle back around to it’ when others are asking me to become diverted from my main goal to celebrate. 

What more is there to say than to stay present with those near you? 

I’ve also noticed that I can hear the question in another person’s eyes when I say this. 

Circle back around? they seem to question with the tilt of their head. 

Yes, that other thing can wait. Then I wonder if the two can come together. 

This is what I am going to sit with as the flow of the day stays with me. 

Celebrating is a time to gather in a circle for a person, so they are front and center. 

It looked like this to me. 

A recent gathering included treats, chatter and smiles as the guests entered with linked arms and knowing looks across the room. 

Delight was shown with love. 

Some people were ready to eat cake first while others took to the spread piled high on plates and tables. 

This was not the time to put a pin on the conversation that was circling back around to the people who were there. 

I watched the joy coming back to the point being made.

I sat and watched the joy come as both the celebration and coming back to a point being made blossomed before me. 

It also reminded me of times when I had watched a circle flow that never ends. 

Sometimes that can come in a place least expected. 

This was one of the ways it came to me as I watched a sunrise over the rocks. 

Suddenly, the sun rays hit the rock you see. 

Knowing that I had seen this place in our space many times before is perhaps part of the reason why I felt a new mindfulness. 

How did it come to be like this? 

A circle to bring me to this awareness that circling back to the one that flows was what I needed. 

I celebrated the moment with a pause. 

Love is that circle that never ends for me. 

It is why I am now able to look deeply at tiny details, like rocks, gatherings and a sunrise. 

What I now know is that being present and creating space for another person to be front and center while smiling are reasons to celebrate on their own.

Gathering with linked arms and a circle full of love is adding to the treat for all of us.