::: finding the balance

i drove a dear co-worker to her chemotherapy treatment today.

i sat beside her as the drugs infused.

while we waited--

i received word that my best friend had just given birth to her first baby.


i was suspended.

caught in one of life's great transpositions.

stretched between something so outwardly celebratory and miraculous.

and another thing.

so wrought with question one strains to find the lesson within the pain.


i was veiled.

draped all at once in the beauty.

and the ashes.

of a life lived.


and so i came home and found balance in

beads & beans.

beet juice & bird feather.

carrot & calendula.


i knelt on the ground.

and gave thanks.

for all blessings.

for all lessons.

for all joys.

and yes.

even all sorrows.