… she was very simply and honestly recording her experience, unvarnished and raw, unedited. Married in 1898, she must have been growing up in these villages in the 1880’s. I wanted to know what it was really like and she told me in remarkable detail.
a life well lived
An Eye for Beauty
I recognized the important shift: I am taking care of myself! The extra bits that aren’t absolutely necessary–the things I’d supposed took too much time or money, or both, the things I was not worthy of, I was doing for myself in the simple act of hanging my sheets out to dry.
Spring Snow
Up here in the mountains of northern New Mexico, in an ancient village that has gone through more than its share of hardships, whose suffering would put mine to shame, two friends spent a day celebrating what it is to live.
Turning Toward Life
And why should this matter to you? Why am I writing this to you? Because I think we are universal and the struggles I fight are the same as those you do. Because we are human. And there is no escaping it, my friends. We are in this together and whatever any one of us can do to help with that, matters.
Time…
I don’t want to grow old before my time and I fear I may have during these last 2 ½ years of shingles… I choose strength. I choose to stay strong, to get strong again—one day at a time, one foot in front of the other. I can already feel a glimmer of my old self returning and I’m thrilled.
Grief First
I don’t get to just give lip service in a blog post to what I want and then have it happen. I don’t get to simply decide to accept my situation and then have it be somehow eased. I have work to do…
Truchas, New Mexico in the Snow
I know that in much of the country you’ve had more snow this winter than you can bear. But here in New Mexico we’ve been starved for it. We need snow each winter like a flower needs the sun and, finally, we’ve been getting it.