Love Is a Miracle

A miracle is in progress out in the yard. Despite freezing nights, despite drought in our part of the country, buds burgeon on plants that winter stripped of every living thing. The life force is stronger than all the adversity this winter has thrown at it.

Another miracle: I'm at home with the man I love on our 20th Valentine's Day. We two, who have six marriages between us, have survived everything those 20 years threw at us, in part because No Matter What we kept the promise we made all those years ago: not to run, not to stuff things down, and not to lie to each other ~ not a very elegant promise, but an effective one for us.

Poetry Jam focuses on miracles this week. The past year has been my time of learning to see the small miracles that happen in everyday life and be grateful for them.

You Could Use a Cheap Miracle


“The quality of my life is so poor –
no money,” you said, counting the obligations that

Loom, while penniless you worry –
tell, instead, the last miracle you saw, and what

It cost you. Did you view it from a window
? or did that small fire flare in your chest when

In the half-dark he reached for you even
in his sleep? The whimper of thanksgiving

Is as good as a hymn
but easily missed – better than meat

After days without food
when your soul is starving.

Laugh in the Face of Everything

Farm couple shares a laugh in 1940

Got no crop last year
Lived off the fat of the land
Ma says I taste good

On that new kwi-zine
Ma feasted. I fasted. Look:
Now I need new pants

Crop came in this year
We’re living high on the hog
Food’s good. Love’s better.

This old photograph reminds me that laughter's one of strongest medicines on earth. While 1940 wasn't a banner year in history, the farming couple from Connecticut still enjoys a joke, maybe made by the husband as he hoists his pants.

A sense of humor helps maintain my equilibrium as the world churns around me. I suffer from a tendency for catastrophic thinking, but there’s an antidote: a dose of hilarity. Mentors showed me I can improve my perspective whenever I want to, no matter what’s on deck, by celebrating life’s absurdities. I'm thankful for the power of laughter.

See what the photo inspires in others over at the Poetry Jam.

Photo credit:
Public Domain Photograph from the Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection in the Library of Congress; Jack Delano, photographer.

A Tiny Victory

I hope I'm not the only writer who sometimes can't think of a single thing to say.

All my energy has been devoted to working through a paralyzing anxiety attack this week. I'm grateful that in spite of it I've conducted the basic stuff of living. Small things like paying bills and trimming the Christmas tree have been accomplished with gritted teeth and prayer, and the fear recedes a little more each day.

And today, a migrating flock of cedar waxwings paid a visit to the shrubs outside my office window. Their annual visitation always gives me joy. This morning I was especially thankful, because I have battled a beast and not been defeated. There are many kinds of victories, some so ordinary that they can be easily overlooked. I'm glad my eyes were open today.

(Don't know who to credit for this lovely shot of a cedar waxwing)

Sunday Morning Addendum:

Cedar waxwings everywhere! This morning's flock is huge, gorging on the red-berry bushes! Underneath the bushes, the kitties crouch, yakking at the beautiful birdies!



"Come to me, lovely little birdies!" says Mystery the Cat. The waxwings respectfully decline.



My Curious Guest, Revealed

It was pure serendipity that I found this creature tucked into the roses Saturday morning. It looked at first like a dry curled leaf, and I'm not sure why I moved in for a closer view. Picking dead leaves wasn't on my agenda; I was picking dahlias. I like to think that God was nudging me so I could enjoy His strange surprise. Last night I queried Google images and learned that my beautiful guest is a sphinx moth that goes by the name Eumorpha achemon.

The moth has a fighter jet's lines. I learned that sphinx moths are some of the fastest flying insects, and some can fly over 30 mph. The achemon has a wingspan of about 3.5 inches, about the width of my palm, and it flies at night. One website said it is rarely seen, which reinforced my sense of the serendipity of our meeting. Achemon feeds on nectar, especially petunias, which I don’t have. Maybe that's why it was gone this morning.

In Greek mythology, Achemon and his brother Basalas were a pair of mischief-making ancient spirits, who once stole the weapons of Heracles. He punished them by tying their feet to his club and slinging it over his shoulder, marching off with them hanging upside down, facing backwards. From that perspective, the brothers beheld the sight of Heracles' bare butt and burst into laughter, and when Heracles demanded to know what they were laughing at, he cracked up too and let them go.

I have no idea why the Achemon myth inspired the gentleman who named this moth in the 1700s. But the Poetry Jam requests a humorous poem this week, and the Achemon myth inspired this haiku:

Two mischief makers
spy Hercules’s godly ass:
Divine heroic crack-up.

I like to turn events like this into life lessons, so I remind myself: You never know what might cross your path today. Might be some little miracle tucked in there. Tunnel vision will blind you to it, so be observant!

Look What You've Done!

Midnight approaches.
I stare at the blank page and words don’t come.
The highway of thoughts has a gridlock somewhere.
When all else fails, pause and run a systems check.

Heart: beating.
Eyes: open.
Fingers: flexible.
Butt: tired.
Lungs: respiring.
Stomach: hungry.
Emotional temperature: warm.
Intellectual capacity: exceeded.
Aha!
Chris has exceeded her allotted storage capacity for the day!

I have read one hundred and fifteen blogs so far this weekend. I have logged in one hundred and eight replies to that many different people. I’m dizzy with words stored up, used up, passed on, exhaled, inhaled, spelled, erased, and thought of anew.

What an experience, to host a blogfest like the one I’ve just done in honor of Haiti. I’m not a hostess. I’m a loner, a nice, quiet poet gardener recovering alcoholic with battle scars and a will to do something, anything, to help a little makeshift hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

I met the most marvelous congregation of people the past two days. As I opened blogs and read about the simple blessings this group of human beings wanted to share with the world, it seemed a little like opening presents at a birthday party.

So the words appear to be flowing again. Here are the facts for now, after midnight on Monday morning:

TWO ANONYMOUS BENEFACTORS have come forward privately and are matching our total donation dollar for dollar. That just astounds me. It’s not the amount of money—that’s just a drop in a bucket for what is needed—it’s the heart behind the offer.

Because you participated, you have caused my family to send $216 to Heartline Ministries in Haiti. Heartline’s little hospital has functioned with the mighty power of volunteers from all over, trying to repair crushed limbs, birthing healthy babies, easing the dying in their final hours, saving the lives of God’s kids. When I read their blogs, I feel like a million bucks because humanity is alive and pulsating on this earth.

I feel rich and I feel tired. It was a good weekend. God bless you in ways both small and large. I’m proud you people exists on same planet I do.

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The photo is of Dr. Jen at Heartline's hospital, comforting a young patient. Jen's mom, Connie, sent it to me yesterday. There are volumes spoken in this simple moment. God bless these wonderful people.

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Let the Challenge Continue!

We're hovering just below the $200 donation mark in the final hours of the Simple Things Challenge... an easy way to keep your blessings flowing to Haiti. And here's the spectacular news: An anonymous blogger is going to match our donation!

Yesterday and today, I'm celebrating the simple pleasures of life, and you are helping me. For each person who participates with a list, a poem, or a prose piece about the joy of simple things, my family will donate $2.00 to Heartline Ministries for their medical clinic and other programs in Haiti. The Heartline Ministries blog by John McHoul will tell you more about what they are doing.

We have 98 separate posts as of 7 p.m. Pacific time. Post your piece by midnight today, and include a link to my blog. Then pop in here to say you’ve posted your “Simple Things.” Don't forget to notify me that you’ve posted. You can borrow the “Simple Things” photo. If you don’t have a blog, a comment on my blog will count too if you tell me so.

What I've noticed so far while traveling the blogs, reading your "Simple Things," is that a lot of us cherish our first cup of coffee in the morning.
We also love the laughter of children.
Simple things that are priceless: good music, good books, good spouses, cats, dogs, smiles ~~~ all things that can be savored without spending money.
Everyone has been a joy to read. I visit your blogs with a smile on my face. And guess what? I sip my favorite cup of coffee too.

Some simple things that make me blessed:

water running from my faucet on command, and it's clean and drinkable

my daughters' beautiful smiles

I'm warm and dry, although it's stormy out

a smooth ocean-polished stone found on the beach

greeting a friend

the fact that people from Scotland, Norway, Australia, Germany, India, Canada, South America, the Phillipines, and both coasts up and down the US have joined in this one particular blog here, to wish Haiti well and make my family send money to a worthy cause.

I can make my mother smile

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Thanks to Christina at Soul Aperture for her permission to use this idea.

Rain on Me Flash 55

The rhythm of rain on the roof
The whish of tires on wet streets
The scent of wet earth in the hands
The smell of wet dogs, wet coats
The sight of a brown river running
The cascades of water in every ravine
The dripping of raindrops on hair
All singing the song: goodbye drought.

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If you would like to tell a tale in exactly 55 words, post it and go tell the G-Man.
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What are some of the simple things that you appreciate in life? I’m hoping you’ll tell me and others what those things are. For everyone who tells me and links to my blog, my family will donate $2 to a little medical hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

My “Simple Things Challenge” begins tomorrow and ends on Sunday night at midnight, Pacific Time.

What simple things do you cherish? Post those things on your blog, along with a link to my blog and a quick blurb about what you’re doing.

What you’re doing is this: For each one of you who posts a list, a poem, a paragraph about the simple things in life that you savor, my family will donate $2 to a medical clinic in Haiti, run by Heartline Ministries. Don’t forget those two important things: Include a link to my blog in your post, and then come tell me.

If you don’t feel like posting on your blog, or you don’t have a blog of your own, just a comment on my blog will count.
My goal is to have at least 50 to 75 people commenting and linking over the weekend.

I’ve borrowed this idea, with permission, from Christina at Soul Aperture. She donated $1 for every comment to Doctors Without Borders, and she wound up sending $180.

I like the idea of celebrating our gratitude for the simple things we’re blessed with. And I love the idea of using the occasion to send financial aid to Haiti, to keep the blessings flowing.

I love what Heartline is doing. For years they’ve been in Haiti trying to improve the lives of women and children. In the aftermath of the earthquake, they’ve transformed their property into a makeshift emergency room, operating room, recovery hospital, and safe haven for suffering people who are in desperate need of medical help, even more than three weeks after the earthquake.

Their volunteer doctors and RNs have performed amputations on plastic folding tables. They go into the slums and tent cities to pick up the wounded and take them for treatment. They serve on the front lines on a wing and a prayer.
Read John McHoul’s blog about their work here.

And pop in to visit me this weekend.

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Can You Make Me Pay $200?

Some big names in the music business got together under Simon Cowell's organization and cut a single to raise money for the Haiti earthquake relief effort.

The Haiti fundraising cover of REM's "Everybody Hurts" is available to download for a fee on Sunday, but you can listen to it free here. Scroll down past all the stars and the text about "We Are the World" to find the song (Yep. This means the world will be treated once again to rockdom's priciest choral ensemble).

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Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

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Christina at Soul Aperture gave me permission to borrow her "Simple Things" challenge. On January 27, she asked her fellow bloggers to celebrate the simple pleasures of life with her. For each person who participated with a gratitude list, Christina’s family donated $1 to Doctors Without Borders for their work in Haiti. She had about 180 takers.

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I'm holding my "Simple Things Challenge" on this Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 6-7. For an explanation of how it's done, see the "Simple Things Challenge" post, below.

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It is really just an excuse to hold a blog party and cause my family to donate even more to a wonderful group of people trying to help the suffering city of Port-au-Prince. The Heartline blog will tell you more about what they are doing.
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Make a list, write a poem, do a story, whatever floats your boat. Here’s a haiku for starters:

Roses bloom bravely
Lifting their magenta heads
In spite of the frost

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“Simple Things” Challenge

Last week I visited Christina at Soul Aperture on January 27, which happened to be her “Simple Things” day.

That’s a day when she asks her fellow bloggers to celebrate the simple pleasures of life with her. For each person who participates with a gratitude list, Christina’s family donates $1 to Doctors Without Borders for their work in Haiti.

I like the idea of celebrating our gratitude for the simple things we’re blessed with. And I love the idea of using the occasion to send financial aid to Haiti, to keep the blessings flowing.

So I asked Christina if she would mind my copying her idea. She kindly gave her permission.

I’ve randomly chosen this coming weekend, February 6 and 7, to be my own Simple Things celebration.

It’s like G-Man’s Friday Flash 55. Write on your blog on Saturday or Sunday about the simple things that bless you and include a link to my blog. Then pop in to my blog and tell me you’ve posted your “Simple Things.”

I’ll visit you, we’ll visit each other, and for each blog that participates, my family will donate $2.00 to the Heartline Ministries medical clinic in Haiti. I hope you really make me open up our checkbook here. I want to dream big. I hope that more than 50 bloggers will play along with me. Post by midnight, Pacific time, Sunday, and don’t forget to link with me and notify me that you’ve posted. You can borrow the “Simple Things” photo, which I’ve borrowed from Christina with her permission.

Make a list, write a poem, do a story, whatever floats your boat.
Here’s a haiku for starters:

Wish for human kind:
Hearts desiring forgiveness
Make the whole world smile.

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