Themes
Heart Lines
There are invisible lines
connecting everything together,
and I am particularly fond of
the one that connects me to you.
No Rule
Pick a date and do the thing. There is no rule that says you have to feel ready before you say yes to your dreams.
Nothing More (remix)
If there is any secret to this life I live, this is it: the sound of what cannot be seen sings within everything that can. & there is nothing more to it than that.
Real Hero (no gender)
Anyone can slay a dragon, but try waking up every morning & loving the world all over again. That’s what takes a real hero.
Listening Well (for Erik) (fem)
She had the gift of stopping time & listening well so that it was easy to hear who we could become & that was the future she held safe for each of us in her great heart & you may ask, what now? & I hope you understand when we speak softly among ourselves & do not answer just yet for our future is no longer the same without her.
Young Tomatoes
My grandma used to plant tomato seedlings in tin cans from tomato sauce & puree & crushed tomatoes she got from the Italian restaurant by her house, but she always soaked the labels off first.
I don’t want them to be anxious about the future, she said. It’s not healthy.
Yellow Bathrobe
I finally settled on Buddhism, she said, but it’s more than just a fashion statement. I’ve always done some of my best work in my bathrobe.
Yellow Buttons
She told me once that the year she went to England she painted all her buttons yellow so she would remember what the sun felt like.
World Peace
I have a friend who took all the doors out of his house one summer. It reminds me there’s nothing I have that’s worth hiding, he said. No secrets is the key to world peace. He put them all back on that winter. I decided it was peaceful enough for me, he said.
Wonder Roast
He just sat in the church looking up at nothing in particular & I whispered what are you doing? & he said if Jesus had been a chicken would we have Weber grills all over the place instead of crosses? & I had a hard time concentrating after that, too.
Words of Comfort
There are days I drop words of comfort on myself like falling rain & remember it is enough to be taken care of by myself.
Work Ethic
When we visited my grandma in the summer, we’d sit on the porch & watch the moon every night to be sure it made it safely home. My grandma said we should say prayers that it find fulfilling work during the day. It’s not like there’s a lot of jobs out there for a moon, she said. She had been through the Depression & thought about a lot of things like that.
Wish Children
my kids could draw like this, he said & I said he was lucky they didn’t because I would not wish children like me on my worst enemy & he didn’t have anything more to say to me
Wish List
I wish you could have been there for the sun & the rain & the long, hard hills. For the sound of a thousand conversations scattered along the road. For the people laughing & crying & remembering at the end. But, mainly, I wish you could have been there.
Without Hesitation
After all those years, she was nothing like I remembered, but my heart leaped across the gap anyway without a moment’s hesitation.
Wolf Angel
this is a wolf angel & it eats the people it’s supposed to help. A wolf angel is not a good angel to have looking out for you.
White Birds
I have always thought that stars turn into white birds in the morning light & sleep with their heads under their wings until the dusk begins to walk through the streets.
Wide Berth
I bet we could all live in peace for a long time, as long as everyone stayed out of my way, she said. I’d hate to be the one to ruin it.
Winning Ticket
He won the grand prize of a vacuum cleaner & all the canned goods he could carry & when they told him he couldn’t believe it. I thought I was buying drink tickets, he said.
Wisdom
Older doesn’t always mean wiser, my grandfather once said. Sometimes it just means older.