Auld Lang Syne (inspired by Robert Burns' poem)

Was going to blog tomorrow, but decided to weave together some thoughts to post now.  The last 48 hours found me segueing from a place of obvious and understandable grief:  no bereavement group for two weeks because it falls on a Monday:  Christmas Day and New Year's Day + no therapy since late-November because I had COVID and then my therapist got it (not from me, I might add!) = feeling abandoned/desperate/scrambling/extrapolating/melancholy/hyperventilating/anxious/emotional/needy/stomach flip-flops/heart tightness (in my best Mister Rogers voice:  "can you say ALL the feelings?), with no professional support during the hardest time of the year after losing my son three months ago (WTF?!?)

...to an unexpected melting and unstuckness as, two hours ago, I performed a saging ritual to clear negative/destructive energy and conjure positive vibes (and god love my husband for being such a trooper and participating).  I'd been puttering (my mom loved that word!) around the house all day, intentionally straightening/ organizing/decluttering in anticipation of the New Year (in less than four hours!).  And our space looks (mostly) lovely, and it certainly smells divine, and I've also been taking better care of myself (yoga! healthy eating!  being present!), which always helps, right?  

Happy (almost) New Year, my friends!  I remain grateful for your wisdom, hope, love, humor, support, and wholeheartedness these last three months (and always, actually).  And we persist; Onwards indeed... 🌈💗🌞

from Donna Ashworth:

No, 2024 perhaps won’t be your best year yet. 

Nor will it be the worst.

You see, a year is a mosaic of absolutely everything.

Joy, fear, heartache, loss, beauty, pain, love.

Failure, learning, friendship, misery, exhilaration.

Each day, each moment even, is a tiny shard of glass in this beautiful, confusing creation.

2024, like all the years before, will be another mosaic to add to your wall of art

A wall that shows the life, you are continuously gifted.

A wall that shows you are human.

A wall of survival.

I wish you many broken pieces of glass this year, my friends.

Because this is living.

And before you march on in to another year of ‘everything’, pause to look back, at the work you have created thus far.

It is quite something.

You are quite something. 

Now on we go, my friends.

Onwards we very much go.

SONG:  Auld Lang Syne, inspired by Robert Burns' poem (this, my favorite version, was used in the first Sex and the City movie... 💖)

BOOK:  First Year of Grief Club: A Gift From A Friend Who Gets It by Addison Brasil

POEM(S):  if 2023 was the quivering seed

2024 will be the raging bloom 

if in 2023 you were stuck in a box 

in 2024 you’ll tango on the moon  

in 2023 you shouted all your words 

in 2024 your voice will be morning rain 

in 2023 you were told you were broken 

in 2024 you’ll break the cycle of shame 

2023 was the year of the clenched fists

2024 will be the era of pardoned sins 

2023 was when tried to hide your light 

in 2024 you’ll feel safe inside your skin 

2023 wanted to divide us in two 

2024 feels like kindness will multiply 

2023 sounded like a rusty chainsaw 

2024 will be a soft midnight lullaby 

2023 is fading away like an old tire fire 

2024 is strolling toward your front door 

in 2023 we had more ammo than people 

in 2024 we’ll choose empathy over war 

my love, hold my hand so tightly

as the calendar year gently restarts

as 2024 arrives, let’s drop our armor 

and entangle all of our lonely hearts

~ john roedel

The New Song by W. S. Merwin

For some time I thought there was time

and that there would always be time

for what I had a mind to do

and what I could imagine

going back to and finding it

as I had found it the first time

but by this time I do not know

what I thought when I thought back then

there is no time yet it grows less

there is the sound of rain at night

arriving unknown in the leaves

once without before or after

then I hear the thrush waking

at daybreak singing the new song

QUOTE(S):  “Watch out for each other. Love everyone and forgive everyone, including yourself. Forgive your anger. Forgive your guilt. Your shame. Your sadness. Embrace and open up your love, your joy, your truth, and most especially your heart.” ~ Jim Henson

"As the year comes to a close, it is a time for reflection – a time to release old thoughts and beliefs and forgive old hurts.  Whatever has happened in the past year, the New Year brings fresh beginnings.  Exciting new experiences and relationships await.  Let us be thankful for the blessings of the past and the promise of the future." ~ Peggy Toney Horton

“May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibility.” ~ Mary Anne Radmacher

Someone asked me what is your religion? I said, “All the paths that lead to the light.” ~ Anonymous