Is what you do enough?
For who?
For you?
Self-doubt?
Self-love?
Self-centered?
Is it selfish to think mainly
of what I need to do for me,
myself, and I?
Why?
When will I find resolve to
my never-ending queries?
Will it be enough?
Do you still doubt?
Do you struggle with answers,
as much as the questions?
Can you decide?
Are you trying?
Is that enough?
05/23/2023 j.g.l.
Library of memories;
pages and paragraphs full of history
and biography, essay or adventure.
Which story should I tell?
Is it one you would well know or
a tale I still have no ending for?
05/16/2023 j.g.l.
Today is a day of memories. For many of us, our mother is encased in thoughts of years gone by.
My Mother left this earth far too early, but I know she is still here for me. I realize, more a more as I grow older, that the distance between the time I had with her never grows further than a thought.
It’s funny what comes to you when you think of such a significant person. A mother gave life and guided you forward through the oncoming years. The lessons she taught, and the gentleness she personified, remain close to the heart.
A mother’s love never grows old.
Today I’m thinking, of all things, about clothing. I think, perhaps, my greatest sense of fashion is what I grew up with.
My mother regularly used to dress me in striped shirts. She called them my ‘Charlie Brown’ shirts (never once did I correct her by telling her it was Linus who always wore the stripes) and stripes in all sizes and colours defined my wardrobe for many years.
Years later, I learned that the choice of stripes was her way of distinguishing my clothes from those of my two siblings on laundry day. In our household, with three active (dare I say messy) kids, it was her way of sorting out whose was whose.
All those stripes set a pattern that continues to this day. Even now I will purchase, or I am attracted to, t-shirts with stripes.
Today I will honour beautiful thoughts of my mother by wearing a striped shirt and remembering all those colourful and long-lasting memories.
This is my way, today, of creating a Happy Mother’s Day.
I’ve been listening to a lot of bullshit lately: misguided campaign promises, laughable conspiracy theories, recipes for disaster, rampant pessimism, and wholly inaccurate weather forecasts.
This unsettling noise is everywhere.
There are simply far too many people wanting to share the immeasurable depths of their ignorance.
The telling truth is frequently found in that which cannot be immediately understood.
Be honest.
05/11/2023 j.g.l.
Forgive yourself for all those promises you didn’t keep, for the phone calls unreturned or unanswered, the emails ignored, and the pain you didn’t even try to mop up.
Some days you don’t have the strength, sometimes you don’t have the time, and in other ways you weren’t of sound mind.
It is all forgivable.
Don’t dwell on it; your true friends will understand, and all those other people have troubles and turmoil of their own that you might not even be able to comprehend.
Understanding is not always easy.
Some days you can only do what you can do.
05/02/2023 j.g.l.
