a prophetic voice-

  Remembering...I have been remembering all day long... recalling the people and happenings which have populated my life over these many years. And, though recently my Muse of Poetry has been tantalizing hiding, I pulled my book, Life Lines, from the shelf to search for words written in 2007 all about the reality of the past being always with us. the past The past swirls around me... I walk through the mists seeing only dimly...yet occasionally there is a clearing and I glimpse the view with startling clarity- just a brief moment- before the fog again enshrouds me and I find myself wondering if it were real or imagined.   Memory is like that- an occasional lifting of the mind's misty curtain... a moment of revelation- and then darkness. And yet, this sustains me somehow... encourages me...lets me know that I am real and my life has meaning. While paging through this book of mine, I also encountered a poem I wrote for Thanksgiving in 2007 and...

Yesterday was a delight...beautiful snow showers...a visit to an old friend at Trinity Glen...coming home to a house decorated for the holidays...hot chocolate in front of the fire. Lovely... But this morning, tears came unbidden as I found myself longing for Thanksgivings long past and the people no long present. I felt suddenly bereft...of purpose, of hope, of joy. A shroud of loneliness covered me, blotting out the already-brightly-shining sun. I was alone... felt alone...and I found myself wondering just what these nearly seventy-two years of my life have been all about.   The tears passed, as they are wont to do, and as I stood in the blessedly hot shower, I began thinking about this day- meant to be a day of giving thanks, though it has taken the meaning of a day for family and feasting- not a bad thing, except for those who have neither family nor food. And I have both- in abundance, if truth be told. And friends...beautiful, wonderful, sharing, caring fri...

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. –Anonymous I believe that we are always attracted to what we need most, an instinct leading us toward the persons who are to open new vistas in our lives and fill them with new knowledge. –Helene Iswolski Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born. - Anais Nin A friend is a loved one who awakens your life in order to free the wild possibilities within you. -John O’Donohue On this day of giving thanks, I am most thankful for life and health. But closely nipping at the heels of that experience of gratitude is my overwhelming thanks for my children and grandchildren and scattered extended family. And clinging tightly to the thankfulness shirt tail (I'm mixing metaphors shamelessly here) is my deep and abiding gratitude for my friends, a true blessing in my life. Recently, my precious friend, Mae, came...