I'd Rather Not Win

Winning - but with heart
Because winning without; it's
Not winning at all

Class Writing Exercise

I am

I am His and born of water
I wonder who I will see in Heaven
I see the waves of growth
I hear the ocean's call
I want to live by the water
I am His and born of water

I pretend I hear the crash, feel the spray, and smell the salt
I feel calmed by the power of the sea
I touch the sand and salt
I worry about missed blessings - mine and others'
I cry when I see people discount their worth
I am His and born of water

I understand so much more now than I did
I say I can make a difference in someone's life
I dream of writing with the tides
I try to explain why they are worth so much
I hope at least one knows
I am His and born of water

My Favorite Things - Haiku

Fresh squeezed orange juice
Many birds at the feeder
Simple pleasures - life.

Darkness fades to deep purple;
purple to red to pink
Finally pink adds orange with subtle tints of yellow, and
there lie the whispy, stretched out clouds -
flat, refusing to rise to begin the day
Similar to how I feel and what I wish I could do....
as I drive to work.

A Mother's Love

A Mother's Love - such a contrite and overused phrase, but as I have come to learn, it is also a totally misunderstood concept. There is more power in a mother's love than in water or wind. It is daunting to try to describe and even more so to understand when one is fully feeling all it encompasses. When I first gave birth, I knew I felt "a mother's love." That feeling and the power it elicited are so inconsequential to what I feel now, to what I felt the night I knew your life was not in my hands. Powerlessness is mighty powerful when it comes to a mother's love. The joy I feel when you are able to do something I can't or don't think of providing for you is powerful - a mother's love. The passion with which I pray for you is incredibly powerful - a mother's love. The sadness I feel when things don't go your way is monumental except I know you are building character and growing stronger, thus while I would want to take that disappointment, I love you much more than to remove the lesson - a mother's love. The hours I spend awake at night wondering different things about you are not so great a sacrifice, but they speak to the power of a mother's love. Getting through the next day still giving my best and doing all I can, speak even more fully of how powerful that love is. Watching your life unfold, I have tried to teach you all I can to fully handle all life will bring to you, yet the truth is, you are teaching me how to live life fully for feeling the power of a mother's love is something without which I would be incomplete and unfulfilled.

Awaken

Awaken slowly from this dream
Life's much too harsh for the light
or worse, it will blind you from the truth

Clouded Vision

Seeing the same old things each day

as she ventured through the hours -

passing the same inns and cafes day after day.

Stopping at the same curbs for traffic,

Waving to the same shopkeepers -

old familiarity - seeing all the signs -

knowing herself well...

she knew the drawbridge was there

Yet on she walked - eyes wide open -

a renewed joy in her step

because to her, each thing was new

with every sunrise; she continued on

hearing the giddy beat of the city

or was it her heart

Horns blowing, "Don't Walk" signs blinking,

People yelling, "Verbottten!"

She continued to walk even though

the Vertrouwen Rivier's bridge was open.