Begin Again
Poet Leonard Cohen has a song that starts: “The birds they sing at the break of day,
‘Begin again,’ I heard them say.”
I need these words right now after returning from six weeks in Costa Rica and Cuba where my husband was teaching at Whitworth University’s Latin America campus and I was studying Spanish. Our internet service was spotty at best, so it’s been weeks since I have been able to post. Time to begin again!
The poem/song continues:
Ring the bells that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in EVERYTHING
That’s how the light gets in!
We are driving to Seattle/Tacoma area right now for two book events for Pilgrimage through Loss and I am writing on my IPAD…not sure how imperfect the spacing will emerge. I will speak at Elliott Bay Bookstore at 2:00 Saturday in Seattle, and at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Tacoma on Tuesday evening at 7:00. If you live in the area I would love to meet you.
Our great joy was coming home to our garden in glorious spring bloom! The plants begin again to offer their fragrance and wonder. A weeping cherry, dozens of daffodils, exuberant and elegant French tulips, aromatic Viburnam, and a pink tulip tree all greeted us. I will send pictures on a future post.
A new friend I met while speaking in her Decatur, Georgia church sent me a thoughtful card with a quote from Pope John Paul, “Every human heart is made for joy.” Perhaps that’s one of the reasons for gardens!
More on Cuba and Costa Rica upcoming and my experiences talking with others on how their cultures express grief. So good to be home.
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Pilgrimage through Loss: Pathways to Strength and Renewal after the Death of a Child offers encouragement and information for other parents living in the long season of sorrow. Drawn from interviews from mothers and fathers on their grief journey, plus Linda Lawrence Hunt's memoir of their family's loss, it also includes recent research on grief, resilience, and creative healing.
Ours happened when four friends woke us one beautiful May dawn to break the news that our 25-year-old married daughter Krista had died 7000 miles away while volunteering in Bolivia. Our hearts shattered, much like the shards of her bus that plunged over a mountain cliff.
Pilgrimage through Loss can be purchased from your favorite independent bookstore OR
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Read early reviews.
Desperate. Determined. Unwaveringly confident. In 1896, a Norwegian immigrant named Helga Estby dares to cross 3500 miles of the American continent to win a $10,000 wager. On Foot. BOLD SPIRIT: Helga Estby’s Forgotten Walk across Victorian America introduces readers to this fascinating journey of an audacious act of courage and love of a mother trying to save a family farm.
“You absolutely do not want to miss this book!” ~Mitch Finley, Auntie’s Books
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