sharing

several weeks ago, i took a peculiar circuitous route from the ferry building to my destination at battery & broadway. i walked between the craft booths bustling with tourists and against the traffic of the farmers market patrons, along justin herman plaza, through four embarcadero center, past a couple parks, the safeway, and several high-rise condo buildings in the fi-di.

not a particularly interesting city walk, but it was a beautiful day and i was in no rush. as i walked alone on my meandering path, it led to some meandering thoughts...

if i don't tell anyone i took this walk, no one would ever know i was here taking this route today. well except for these nameless people i pass on the street. but to them i'm just as nameless as they are to me, so what would be the value of they knowing i was here?

i realize no one has to know every thing i've done, everywhere i've been. but sharing is love. and it has been a while since i've fully shared my thoughts here. and it's even been quite a while since i started this thought and restarted this entry. lately i've struggled with what to share and when. largely because there are reflections on major experiences, both bad and good, from the past few months that i'm still trying sort out in my head.

so consider this entry as collateral for those thoughts. hold me to it...

how i know love

30 years of dad & mom

congratulations & condolences

my mom's side of the family

a daughter is born
on wednesday morning

this first child by our "generation"
of six cousins
who grew up together like siblings

in the thursday twilight
of the hospital window
i hold my niece in my hands
a precious bundle of potential

my aunt takes her
and sings a song softly

my dad's side of the family

a father's heart fails him
on thursday night

an uncle i hardly knew
but the parent of a cousin
raised well to become a
smart, successful, faithful woman

at the sunday evening vigil
i look to her in the pew at the front
as the sound of
repeating hail mary's goes in
one ear and out the other
she is strong and resilient

her words at the end of the night
reflect a comfort in knowing
that he is with God now

oh this life’s dichotomy
from life and death in a given week
from singing lullabies in the maternity ward
to murmuring the rosary in the mortuary

"naked i come from my mother's womb, and naked i will depart. the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away"