Dear Blog Readers,
Here we are in the heat of August again. With the sun beaming strongly after a rainy summer. I cherish these sunny hot days, as much as the heat bothers me. I want to soak it all in before the Winter returns. It makes me think about summers of my childhood. Running through sprinklers, the hot pavement I could feel through my jelly shoes and collecting jelly bracelets to wear high up my arms, riding my bike all over the neighbourhood – the freedom of being allowed, spending hours in the water, and fighting with friends. I don’t know if it was the heat, or the extended periods of time we could spend together when on vacation from school. Whatever it was, there were inevitably differences, arguments, silent treatments, and eventually forgiveness or dissolution. Summer reminds me of never ending joy and the stark reality that things change. People change, the seasons change, I change. Through it all, there are moments of forgiveness. Perhaps for not being invited to a birthday party when I was 7, or for a friend saying something hurtful or cruel, or a cousin calling me names. I like to remind myself that forgiveness and reconnection are not the same thing. I can forgive the friend who didn’t talk to me for 3 days when we were 9. I don’t have to “friend” them on social media or plan a date to see them. I can forgive someone who has hurt me, and I don’t have to repair the relationship. I also remind myself that some things are unforgivable and it is not my responsibility to make someone else feel better, or to release the anger that I hold for what happened. I can hold acceptance and anger at the same time. I can hold forgiveness and memories at the same time. And as Sharon writes in this week’s blog, “Because everyone has to forgive someone, Because I miss you & it matters,”.
Take care of yourself, and remember to nourish your body, mind, and spirit,
Your moderator,
Kira
When the solace of angels is named,
When the winds blister the academy,
When the first lesions of summer light
When the algebras of my past repeat
Themselves drunkenly on into the night,
When the lemon peels twist
At the edge of the porcelain saucer,
When the door is closed behind me,
When the stilettos all stand at attention
The moment I step onto the subway,
When my future’s looking dim,
Stand by me
no matter
Because the antiphony of my conscience
Has become quite enough,
Because you remember me believing
Whatever it was that I believed,
Because it’s getting late no matter which
Country, heart or clock we consult,
Because the outfield is moving in,
Because even the women on the Foreign
Calendar are looking grim,
Because everyone has to forgive someone,
Because I miss you & it matters,
Because no one else wears the morning
Quite so well, stand by me, please;
Stand by me.
- Sharon Miller