Monthly Archives: August 2012

Have I said this before…life is like a ball of yarn? Maybe not, but it is to a point. We, as people, are wound up…intertwined with each day in a ball with each other. We eat, work, talk, plan and negotiate with one another. Passing cars on the highway – do we know who the passengers are? Maybe they too just stopped to pick up dinner at the local deli, heading home from a long days work. Could it be a young man or woman filled with despair as the news came out today that cutbacks are on the table and their name may be on that list? Or did they just get the news they are expecting twins.

Politicians that run this country…do they have a clue that because of the state of economy we are in, that health insurance is unattainable for many, homes are now a privilege to own, that food is scarce and tears are many? Do they really feel our pain or are they just interested in our vote these days. Many of us pray harder each day in an attempt to be heard…as futile as it may seem sometimes…we still pray.

How do we know the man, or woman, down the block isn’t planning to bomb the building that stands the tallest in a big city of any name. Does that future bomber think about the mothers working there…the children innocently playing in the daycare down the street? Does he care a young woman is showing her new engagement ring to the swarms of co-worker surrounding her with chatter of the future. No, I don’t think our bomber cares.

Then there is the coffee shop at the corner that holds the connoisseur of strong beans and conversation. Some man in the corner reading the paper gets a call from his wife saying it’s time – “time” he repeats as a smile crosses his face knowing he’s about to meet his son.

As the day unfolds the ball of yarn it encompassed, it begins to unravel – little by little. There are knots of sadness, twists of pain, kinks of anger, strains of fear, wrinkles of happiness, threads of joy and colors of laughter – but when it’s at the end, when the last of the roll is exposed, I hope it carries what I believe is deep inside us all – hope and love for tomorrow.

It’s different here, not quite the same…the sights, the sounds and surely the names. I travel to hear the differences as I trade the soothing sounds of my crickets at night to the laughter and chatter of family. In the morning there are a few birds but stronger still are the sounds of the city with a sprinkle of a quiet robin song thrown in the air by the passing wind.

At home I wake to the sweet mix of many birds in my backyard singing to wake me from my dreams as their day begins. Is it possible to have two homes? To love them both but feel the pangs of desire for the other when the distance is clear. I am in that truth today while I sit waiting for the family to wake from their sleep and join me for coffee. Is it just human nature to want what we can not have? We buy a car or curtains for the house, or maybe a chocolate ice cream cone but wonder if we should have picked another…could there be a better one around the corner?

When I am home in Washington, I am home. Familiar sounds that start the day. There is peace in the laughter of those close to my heart…the hugs are different here, sweeter, more enduring in a way.

When I am home in Colorado, it’s the life I love a different way…it’s not the same but carries sweetness just the same. Washington is my heart of homes and carries a tune in my soul like no other. But unless my husband is with me as I travel here, it’s not the same. It lacks the completeness I want, or should I say I need in my soul…he is my breath and warmth.

Colorado holds my life and constant presence these days but it’s different here…it’s not the same.