I cannot believe how fast this summer has flown by, are you all feeling the same?
Summer is my favorite season, although as I’ve grown older I have developed a real love for the treasures of each of the four. When I was a young girl I dreamed of someday living in the land of endless Summer – for me that was Florida. As an older adult that goal has shifted – I feel sorry for those who never know the golden light cast on a cool autumn morning as orange, red and yellow leaves swirl about your feet. The crunch of snow under boots and the sparkle of sunlight on snow on a January day. The song in the heart when the first crocus unfurls from the thawing earth with the promise of Spring.
I’ve been letting myself get all crazy with the freak show that is our current governing body, praying with everything I’ve got that those who still support The Orange Scream will see all the damage he’s inflicting on our integrity, our relationships with allies, our natural resources, the protections from abuse of animals, truth in general…. I’m just too weary of soul to continue with this list. It’s dumbfounding, the support – just WTF is happening to this country? So because of the fret over this menace in the White House, in this greed and cruelty gone rampant, the fibromyalgia in my body has done the same. I need to walk away from it, but that also feels irresponsible to me… we need to bear witness to the destruction so we can perhaps recognize and assist whatever will be the catalyst to get us the hell out of this mess.
Below is a picture of my ancient Dane, Ben, right now as I type, sharing his bed with Frasier. They weren’t friends, ever, but now as Ben struggles with the simplest tasks in old age, Frasier has stepped up ❤️. As I am discouraged daily watching humans become more bold with their darker side, I am continuously reminded of the simple Grace of the animals. We still have things to learn from those we consider lesser beings.
I think it’s safe to assume I am now in the Autumn of my life – 54 is middle-middle aged, right? The lines on my face and the ache in my body tells me so. Until recently I had an inherent belief that the country I lived in, for the most part, was made up of people who believed we are all equal, that despite our differences, we were one nation, whether under a God or not. I truly believed greed and racism and hatred for anything that isn’t what we think we are, was dying out. Or at the very least, not -winning-. So.. much.. winning. What I fear most for our country, this land that I love, is that we are in the autumn of our decency, our respect for each other, and others beyond. This earth is dying slowly, and we’re killing it daily, now untethered, unrestrained because Greed has been given the green light, the hate that flows in the veins of so many has been given permission to flow freely. Division seems to be the goal, unity be damned. These are not my assumptions, just listen to the message being sold. And so many are buying it.
I’m going to continue to try like hell to maintain a little of Summer, even in the darkest nights of Winter, because without hope for the future, we are a lost cause, all of us. We will kill ourselves out in the end if we don’t wake up, if we don’t work hard to save the gifts we were given from the very start. Here’s to a return of Summer to the psyche of we, the people of this earth so that we may thrive in harmony, our samenesses and our differences alike.
You have put my thoughts into words so elequently. I am depressed and weary to the point that it’s making me ill. We were given a perfect place to live and have destroyed it. But I should not use the collective “WE” – it is money, greed in the name of profit, that have destroyed our planet. Wild fires, lead and mercury in our drinking water, annihilation of whole species, legal resumption of air pollutants — all due to Business and Capitalism run amuck. Maybe human beings were not smart enough to maintain paradise. I won’t live to see the ending, but will You? (the collective ‘YOU’).
(P.S. In Fla. next week we are facing our 2nd major hurricane in 10 months. Never this many before. Weather experts say ocean water is 89-90 degrees which feeds the storms.)
Eileen, I often think humans are not smart enough to save what we were given. Humans are truly our worst enemy.
Here’s to the winds taking Dorian away from your coastline and back out to sea, or at least the wind taken out of her sails before landfall. Stay safe, and thank you, as always for your sane contribution to the conversation.
Eileen, I hope you stay safe and this ugly storm moves out to sea before doing major damage….
“the simple Grace of the animals”…I have thought about grace a lot this week because of a story related to me by a cousin. Lover of words that I am, I looked up a few definitions and these were my favorites:
“I do not understand the mystery of grace only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.”( Anne Lamott.) And another: “That is the mystery of grace, it never comes too late.” (Frances Mauriac)
So let the animals teach us grace and let its mystery come in time to save us from ourselves.
To those in Florida and the southeast coast, may Dorian have the grace to spin out eastward and fly off into the cooler waters of the mid Atlantic. Karen’s mom
Have I mentioned lately how much I love my mom?
I have discovered that when the big things get to be too much to bear I need to refocus and seek out the small wonders. A newly discovered cherry preserve on toast at 3 am. Howie tapping his paw on my arm to be petted for over an hour. “I love you mama” bellowed phone message from DD just for fun.
Focusing on the death of humanity and our planet literally has made my illness worse also. I said before I can only read it now, not visually watch or listen to the news. I have not given up, I still donate and make calls and sign petitions and write letters.
I have been the recipient of two kindness moments from strangers this week so hope lives and as in the past, good has beaten back evil. We resist, we pray, we fight, and we are grateful for the good.
Blessed mom and blessed daughter. I too am so blessed.
Thank you, Suzan. Yes… I am so very grateful for the Good – time to focus on that and do what I can for positive change.
I am trying desperately to focus on things over which I either have some control or that give me joy. Here at the lake it’s pretty easy. A beautiful day. No media apart from an NPR music station so just Morning Edition. (I’m staying clear of my twitter feed although most of that is either arty or royal or Susan Branch!) I walk and listen to the sounds as I do; paint; read; hang with Lizzie. Talk about the simple grace of animals — I learn so much from her. Tomorrow Rick will come and while I won’t have my own solitude I’ll have warm companionship and fun. Next week we’ll head back home and I’ll watch the news because I always do.
But till then, like you, I will hold onto the last of summer like a child trying to hold onto a kite in a windstorm. There are things he can destroy (and is doing a mighty good job of it) but I won’t surrender my peace to him. At least not for a bit yet.
Oh, you are saying it perfectly – I won’t surrender my Peace to him. I must do the same……
I have lost my feed . . . of you . . . but fortunately I found where I saved your blog title in my “iPad notes.”
I needed you this morning . . . and I will need you in my future.
Tag me on to your thoughts, words, passion, Grace . . .
I am with you, beside you, for you, for us . . .
I will be holding on, with . . . “the simple Grace of the animals” . . .
(how simply eloquent your words and photo)
I am way beyond the autumn of my life . . . I will continue to preserve all I can for my children, grands, greats . . . of our America Essence. We must.
I am weeping upon reading your comment.. please, don’t go anywhere any time soon – we all need each other…