handwritten on November 5, 2024
I've always found that practicing gratitude is necessary to live a life with an abundance of love. I've been trying to practice days of gratitude with the two little ones I care for all day every day but also be very aware of the love being passed towards us and around us while thinking about ways we can pass love even further along. In a year of uncertainties, there has been so much love and such a fresh perspective on living. Today at the park, one of our friends gave us fruit to share with the littles (in an exchange of snacks) and another park friend gave us his daughter's clothes she no longer wears for Luna. Both completely out of the blue, but both a continued reminder of how kind...
handwritten on October 26, 2024
Today would have been my grandparent's anniversary, and it is bittersweet knowing it is their first heavenly anniversary together (but for them-I know it is incredibly sweet.) As I sat down this evening to reflect on life as I always do, I realized I had not opened a group chat (for many hours) where family members had been sending their happy anniversary messages all day to both of my grandparents. At my grandmother's funeral two weeks ago, my cousin had inquired about the 55th wedding anniversary powerpoint my brother had created a long time ago. Well, by some miracle, the video was found and uploaded and boy did the tears spill. There is something so incredibly raw about seeing yourself...
handwritten on October 19, 2024
Earth’s Celebration
To our Dearest Fiery Soul, our mother of all Maryisms, our truth sayer and beloved mother, grandmother and dear friend to so many— this final letter is mailed to you and sealed with that sparkle and that fiery zest that certainly ignited your soul and a little red lipstick too
The saying often goes that you should
Love like you’ve never been hurt
Sing like no one is listening
Dance like nobody's watching
And live like it’s heaven on earth
And for all of your beautiful children
Your relatives, your grandchildren
And of course your beloved husband who
Is overjoyed to have you home with him
We know that you quite literally lived every moment on
Earth like it was...
handwritten on September 23, 2024
Where is my happiness?
I found it this morning
Tucked inside a little hole I found in the sidewalk
A pebble that looks like blue glass
Hidden within the blades of the grass
Where is my happiness?
I found it this morning with
The rising sun peeking behind the brilliant fall trees
Falling leaves
Looking like flames on the early morning asphalt
Messages of love
Written in chalk
Erased with the early
Morning dew that wipes clean my shoe
Where is my happiness?
I found it this morning
Among the squirrels that play on the rooftops
Chattering heard for miles
Birds flying in freedom away from their nests
While the clinking of bowls
Make breakfast for the...
handwritten on September 20, 2024
I once began a school year with a brilliant book entitled "Someone Builds the Dream." It highlights every important vocation that we often ignore as a society and the building blocks that make us who we are. As an elementary educator, we are often forgotten about in later years. However, now that I am taking care of my daughter and someone else's daughter, you begin to realize how important all of those tiny building blocks are to create a happy, full and healthy soul. And how many intricacies there are when building the dream. As an educator in the classroom, I would constantly worry about each and every one of my students. When I had them in third grade I had students who were filled with...
