Our spring is much warmer this year. Even the moss which should be spongy and wet is dry and crisp. I want to enjoy the higher temperatures, lounge in my Adirondack chair, and read a good book but I can’t seem to shake an unease about what might be coming. Last year the western wildfires burned an estimated 10 million acres compared to almost 5 million acres in 2019.
There has been a lot of loss this past year– the Pandemic, burnt wildland, destroyed homes and property, my good friend lost everything in a California fire. My sister died too. She was diagnosed with bone cancer in the winter months of 2020 and died in December, spending her last months in isolation due to the Pandemic. I know I’m not alone in my loss. There is a much larger world bereavement unfolding in countries which have not yet implemented a full-scale vaccination program or are under political upheaval or worse. What will the rest of this year bring?
When I take solace in simple things, it’s not without consideration for the greater things at play in the world around me. They are important and I need to be awake to the unpleasant as well as finding refuge in things like the walk I did today; to a grove of large hemlock and cottonwood trees, nestled in a dark ravine, long ago missed by some loggers. The bark on the trees, rippled with goliath wrinkles made them appear like some wise beings from another world.
I wonder if I hang out with them long enough, maybe I could be more like them. Strong. Silent. Still. Standing on my own two feet, I strive to accept loss and defeat with the same equanimity as I accept renewal, success, and joy.
How did you find solace this week?
Sharon
© 2021. Sharon Kreider. All Rights Reserved
