There is a place where the town ends

and the fields begin.

It’s not marked but the feet know it,

also the heart, that is longing for refreshment

and, equally, for repose.

Someday we will live in the sky.

Meanwhile, the house of our lives is the world.

The fields, the ponds, the birds.

The thick black oaks-surely they are the children of God.

The feistiness among the tiger lilies,

the hedges of runaway honeysuckle, that no one owns.

Where is it? I ask, and then

my feet know it.

One jump, and I’m home.

-Mary Oliver

I read this poem, Boundaries, at Brad’s service.  It’s been posted by my desk ever since and  I like to read it from time to time.  There are some poems, quotes, and song lyrics that squeeze my heart, and I love that.

You and I will meet again

When we’re least expecting it

One day in some far off place

I will recognize your face

I won’t say goodbye my friend

For you and I will meet again

-Tom Petty

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.  May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.  -Edward Abbey

xo

“Where there is love there is life.” -Mahatma Gandhi

Family portrait by Alice (left: daddy, middle: Alice, right: momma)

“I look at you and see the rest of my life in front of my eyes.”  -unknown

xoxo

 

Life is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition, if we could only realize it. Nothing ever sums itself up in the way that we like to dream about. The off-center, in-between state is an ideal situation, a situation in which we don’t get caught and we can open our hearts and minds beyond limit. It’s a very tender, nonaggressive, open-ended state of affairs. To stay with that shakiness – to stay with a broken heart, with a rumbling stomach, with the feeling of hopelessness and wanting to get revenge – that is the path of true awakening. Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic – this is the spiritual path”

-Pema Chodron

My friend shared this quote and I love it.

This time of year is hard. Our friend Brad Peterson died at Brundage Mountain eight years ago this coming weekend. NARSID (Non-Avalanche Related Snow Immersion Death) Feelings from that time tend to resurface and well up more acutely than the rest of the year.  It also happens to be the weekend of Nate’s birthday.  Nathan, Jared’s younger brother, passed away suddenly last February. We all live with a broken heart, a rumbling stomach, and the feeling of hopelessness from time to time.  I’ll stick with the uncertainty.

I’ve been imaging life somewhere else but I also take comfort in the familiar place I am. 

Life lately…xo