Love one another

My heart is aching for our world, aching about all the hate, violence, pain, suffering, all around.

Each day, new atrocities.



I'm on a two week winter break, filled with family. We traveled to see my parents in Maine, we traveled to Georgia to celebrate the 85th birthday of my husband's brother, and I have had lots of great time with my sons, my daughter-in-law, and my husband. I love my family.

This poem has tumbled out of me, on this the last day of 2015. It seems a little off topic for an "early childhood reflections" blog, though it involves some of my earliest understandings.

My new year's wish: love one another.

This is the image that hurts:

Not listening.

"Knowing" exactly how wrong the other was.

Silent treatment.

Judgment.

Reactivity.

Need for control.

Painful interactions.

Tension in our home.

No guests allowed.

Isolated and alone.

And now this.

She with dementia,

not knowing us, 

unable to follow our conversations.

He with Parkinson's, 

thoughts and movements getting slower.

This is the image I treasure:

Inseparable,

they sit side by side, 

close together, 

hands intertwined. 

He holds her leg gently, 

as if to ground both him and her, and 

she softly strokes his hand with both of hers.

Love one another.