Thirty-eight years ago, in this particular moment, I was sitting, hugely pregnant, with the ankles of several elephants, feet propped on a coffee table wondering if the restless, opinionated child within me would ever decide to make an appearance.
It had not been an easy pregnancy. I was experiencing pre-eclampsia, which we used to refer to as toxemia. It’s a tradition in my family! My blood pressure was high. I gained 10 pounds of water weight a day and spent each night running to the bathroom, exhausted and, frankly, scared.
Add to that the whole single, food-stamp mom thing…
And the salt free p-nut butter on salt free bread…
I was not, I suspect, anybody’s inspiration for madonnas on Christmas cards.
This year is much different!
This year, that “kid” and I are rocking gently along on a big boat with the ones we love the most, playing in the pool and having new adventures and pausing, now and then, for some quiet time in a deck chair for the ankles which seem to be remembering.
David, well mostly Dave, has lived up to his name which means Beloved in Hebrew, though I didn’t know that then.
He, and Kelly and the girls, are equal parts inspiration and motivation in my life.
They call me, constantly, back to the best in me.
Back to my hopes for the world.
We all have a lot of hoping to do, these days.
And a lot of work, as well.
We won’t do it all the same way and that’s ok. It seems to me, though, that the reminder of this season is that we are hoping for Peace and Light.
In a few short days, this boat is going to dock and it will be time to join the herd of souls racing back to the real world and remember that, while hoping is important, acting is too.
It’s time to bring Light and Hope to the darkness in our tiny corners of the world. There are lots of things we can’t fix. And quite a few that we can.
I’ll be starting with chemo soup for a friend. And help for a whole bunch of huge, fabulous dogs. And art as a signpost to Love. What will you choose?