What is something you’ve always wanted to say? 

Something about a dream you have, the life you want to live, where you’d like to go or the next gifts you want to receive. 

It’s the time of year you write them all down on a long list to pass them along to someone near you. That best friend who is ready to make plans with you. 

Do you have your list ready to share? 

Think about the look you received when you sat with that friend and said all of your words. 

The kindness you saw, the gentleness in their gaze and the time they took to be with you. 

Consider how you are doing the same for another around you.

Now, think about the time when you didn’t have someone to listen to you or when others may have told you they didn’t think what you were planning was important.   

Some may say that silence is golden, yet others may feel that it’s what you can say that matters.

Some may say that silence is golden, yet others may feel that it’s what you can say to anyone that matters.

There have been times when I thought about the tone that comes with the language used, bringing even more meaning. 

Think about the songs that come along with the time of the year. 

It can also be the small ornaments used to brighten the lights on a festive tree. What words we use to capture a moment are grand, marvelous and always remembered. 

This is what comes to mind when I think about the words that could have been said. 

Turns out I’ve had lots to say this year. 

My Top 10 Things that were more important than staying silent in 2025.

Here are my Top 10 Things that were more important than staying silent in 2025. 

#10 Sky of Stars Starting with what leads me seems to be the way to go. Have you felt the open moments bring you to a remembrance of how to do all the things? Say all the words and know that silence is not golden at all? Late night is when I like to stand outside and look up. This is when I see a sky of stars. 

There are, of course, times when I need to step deeper into a clutter free zone to look deeper into the heavens to see a sky full of stars even clearer. Stars, warm open smiles and hope come with the possibilities of looking up with others nearby.  

#9 Trees Began to Whisper Listen and Silent have the same letters. Some say that is a coincidence. Others say that is how we can hear what may need to be said without any words. I think that it is when we can listen to what else may be said, perhaps when we are still. This quote is one that gives me more to think about as I go along this trail. The trees began to whisper and the wind began to roll in the wild. March morning I heard them calm my soul. Alfred Lord Tennyson. Trails are where I go to find the trees and wind that often tell me more. 

#8 Stepping Back Coming in next will be Stepping Back. Taking a step back is when I have been able to be curious and as brave as an eight-year-old. 

It can give me moments of clarity when I am too close to something I care about or when I am preparing for an event. It is also where I am leaning into my years of living to pay attention, be aware and trust. 

#7 One Day at a Time And then we will go into how to say the difficult words. 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. 

Silence is not golden, so I said these words.

#6 Get Up Offa That Thing Silence is not golden, so I said these words as the floor welcomed my familiar pat of feet. I was just thinking about you, I said to the picture as I walked past it for the tenth time that day. Am I the only one who thinks about you? Then I paused and began to wonder. What would the person dressed in blue with the brilliant smile, long arms and tall curly hair say to me now if he could. The day I walked by numerous times was one of refreshing, renewal and restarting. 

#5 You Are My Sunshine I learned how to watch in silence and then get going from many people. 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. 

#4 Traveling with Intention Time came for us to look forward to and do with great intent. Take a look at a few of them with me. First, is the intention to stay flexible as I step out of my comfort zone. Wait! Aren’t that two things at the same time? Yes, and yes! It’s one of the things I love about traveling with intention. Stepping into a new realm with a plan then doing new things along the way. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that I was going to be a lifelong adventure seeker. 

#3 Gate to Eternity I saw the quote that says, ‘Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.’ Kahlil Gibran. It seemed to bring me to a new level of attention in a few ways. Dreaming has brought me many things over the years. I learned to trust them during deep sleep and when I was daydreaming. Trusting my dreams was a way to step into a new realm at times. Finding a hidden gate sounds like a path to meander into next. 

#2 Come Sail Away It was like I had the confidence of a 3-year-old plunking away at a toy piano. Every tune came out beautifully and they were all worthy of a dance. I have been able to find a rhythm that built upon that start. It is now time to find a longer strain and go for more. The music seems to turn itself up as a keyboard was what I heard next. It was from a flowing song that brought it all together as Come Sail Away by Styx.

#1 What Do You Need to Say?  Remember that saying words and being silent may be two sides to one coin. Take a look at the small jar sitting on the wood shelf. 

Some things that bring joy are items such as these. Reminders such as this bring a repeating line in my life. People who have been there to teach, live fearlessly, and share faith filled moments. Doing it over and over like the blue linked lines around gold bands. There are times that doing each of these have surprised me. 

When you feel the rumble in your soul and the energy rising in you, say the words, find your space and think about that thing you’ve always wanted to say. 

Let’s say it together to brighten the day around us.

I was just thinking about you, I said to the picture as I walked past it for the tenth time that day.

Am I the only one who thinks about you? 

Then I paused and began to wonder. 

What would the person dressed in blue with the brilliant smile, long arms and tall curly hair say to me now if he could. 

The day I walked by numerous times was one of refreshing, renewal and restarting. 

I had done this over many years and here I was ready to go one more time. 

As I began to imagine what the tall one in the picture would have said to me now, I suddenly thought of a song and my toe tapped out a quick rhythm. 

Get Up Offa That Thing dance through me with a smile.

Get Up Offa That Thing by James Brown danced through me with a smile. 

Yes, exactly, that would be the message from the boy with the bright eyes and curly hair. 

The one who loved this fast beat and the words that came with it. 

Can you hear it? 

If not, let me share what came to me as the music flowed over my pacing and settled into our rooms. 

This soul reaching music starts with a quick two step and horns. Are they trumpets? Could it be a saxophone? 

Then there is a whistle, and some calling to others to come and dance. 

My friends, my soul knew this was something I needed as the pause through my house became a shoulder shake and clap to this song with a big smile. 

When have we needed to release the pressure of a moment? 

Sing with others, call others around and gather to refresh to create good times? 

Could it be when there is a change we didn’t choose so the loss and grief feel overwhelming, constant, ever present or just around the corner? 

Maybe it’s when the soft losses are always near and your heart reaches for something familiar. 

I’ve been in both spaces.

Perhaps that is why I was thinking about the boy who is no longer with us, the one who loved to dance.

Dancing with good music was always a way to start it with the boy in blue for me. 

I now know that I can up off that thing, dance and gather with others.

While I needed to look at a picture to create this moment and now know that I can get up offa that thing, dance, gather with others or one other and do one thing. 

Feeling better was what this moment brought me to feel good.

What came next kept my feet going for hours. 

I call them good memories even when the salty tears are rolling over my cheeks. 

The memories of dancing with the tall boy who knew how to stomp his feet to a fun song came rushing over me. 

These questions also came suddenly like the chorus in the song. 

Was I going to forget these moments at some time? 

Did the loss of his physical being mean I was the only one who had these coming to me? 

How could I live in this moment and keep Dallin with me? 

What if no one ever said his name again? 

M’hm. Can you hear the cascade of call outs getting bigger? 

Oh, this is where I began to refresh and check in with others. 

No, I was not the only one who said Dallin’s name. It was time to start with the two step again and listen to the horns. 

Get up. Dance. Find the beat.

Get up. Dance. Find the beat in life. 

Renewal can also come when I move my body to come to a new point. 

Getting to a new point does not mean I have forgotten what has been or where I have come from. 

This can also be when I remember to have strength. 

Not only physical strength but emotional, to let the feelings and the love and the joy and missing and the rhythm continue. 

It is how I can now decide to dance, call out to others who may be here looking to restart while keeping the love and continue asking what a tall one would say to me now. 

What and who does your rhythm include? 

Let’s dance and find it together! 

Writing

#70 Collateral Beauty

#81 Dancing into Heaven