Note about Wes from April 2011

 Congrats to Wes for being recognized for his writing at UK's thirtieth annual awards ceremony. He was awarded (certificate and cash) for Best Undergraduate Essays in a 200-level Literature or Film Class for his essay "Slavery as an Echo: Narration in Beloved."

Thoughts from 2010

 We are more similar than we are different. We all need food, water, love, belief in something larger than ourselves, even if the larger is nothing more than the intricate mating of such a small creature as the snail.

11

On Vulnerability

 “Vulnerability is not weakness, and the uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure we face every day are not optional. Our only choice is a question of engagement. Our willingness to own and engage with our vulnerability determines the depth of our courage and the clarity of our purpose; the level to which we protect ourselves from being vulnerable is a measure of our fear and disconnection.”

― Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

5Lauren Brown, Lynn Curtis and 3 others

From Tiny Beautiful Things

 From tiny beautiful things (Cheryl Strayed):

"I can't tell you what to do. No one can. But as the mother of two children, I can tell you what most moms will: that mothering is absurdly hard and profoundly sweet. Like the best thing you ever did. Like if you think you want to have a baby, you probably should. I say this in spite of the fact that children are giant endless suck machines. They don't give a whit if you need to sleep or eat or pee or get your work done or go out to a party naked and oiled up in a homemade Alice B. Toklas mask. They take everything. They will bring you to the furthest edge of your personality and abso-fucking-lutely to your knees.

They will also give you everything back. Not just all they take, but many of the things you lost before they came along as well."

I sure thought about my early years as a mother, and I thought about the mothers of young children I know as I read this passage,

Lauren Brown

and

Daisy Jayne

.

This is a response to a letter Dear Sugar received from a single woman who wanted a child but felt she would never have a husband (she's 38) and wasn't sure what to do. There is much more to read in the response. Buy the book. I love it in ways I can't really explain. Strayed is hard-ass firm in some responses but genuine and her responses are thought-provoking.

The Edge

 “When you come to the edge of all that you know, you must believe one of two things: either there will be ground to stand on, or you will be given wings to fly.”

These pics are about my journey with my mother's illness and death

I added this pic today (3/31) It's called Windows: In An Easterly Direction. This is actually a door in the breakfast nook.  There was once a window there. I don't know how to keep adding in this thread, so everything looks botched up, but maybe I will get it all figured out. 

 The first pic is called The Journey Begins

This is the second picture I took of the window above. You can see the forsythia is now blooming. 

I am not sure where my mother got this piece of stained glass. It looks pretty in the laundry room. 

This 4th picture is a poem in picture format. The bronze baby shoe, the shell, and the pinecone. 

No One

 Spent: A Seussian Rhapsody

Do you know how it feels to be spent?

So spent you can't even present?

So spent your very best intention

To smile gets barely a mention

From the Who Is That convention?

So spent you let loose pretention

As you struggle and struggle to pay attention?

So lost your Let Loose loses its fears

And bundles up Bundled apprehension

In sleepy old seeds that wave to and fro

In the tired old breeze. They shed no tears

In the light of the day, but day doesn't know

The ways of the night, and those spent old

Blossoms wave around with some fright

As they ponder the changes that unfold,

Changes for us, the young and the old.