Peace

walking in the dark tonight..........for several hours---through the fields...alone
the night sky was black with no moon ........no stars
only three cars passed me and only a handful of houses drifted by...
the smell of woodsmoke and the pungent odor of earth just turned hung in the darkness...
at times --the air--it was silent and still
other times birds stirred in the treetops...and animals scurried in the brush...and once i heard the grinding of a tractor churning late in the fields
i felt the darkness weighing down on my shoulders, as if i was carrying a shoulderbag.....of something.......like hope
my footsteps echoed and my thoughts swarmed around me, like bees...waiting to find just the right place to light.
once back home... after the long walk, i felt the wet heat of my own body clinging to my skin and my face stung as the warmth of the room brought blood rushing to my cheeks
now it's time to sleep .....and go walking with the angels on the other side of midnight

cuz i’m bored of hanging out in your cold

everyone wants to be around you when you are laughing and funny and helpful and upbeat ............but take a close look at who is at your side when you are not having a great day----...when you are feeling down and you find it difficult to smile. who are those friends who help you laugh again.....who don't leave you behind....who aren't too busy...who don't leave you in the dark....

those are the people to keep near to you...they will warm you on even the coldest of days. and you know that you too would venture into the darkness and cold to find them if they were lost out there...alone.

true friends. how many do you have?

Happy New Year

If you read the front page story of the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday, Dec 15, 2005, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines.

The fifty-foot whale was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her her tail, her torso and a line tugging in her mouth.

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallone Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her - a very dangerous proposition. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer.

They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around - she thanked them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.

The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate in the New Year -to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you. And, may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.