The Assignment

Photo by Rostislav Uzunov on Pexels.com
I was tasked to write out my feelings regarding someone who was one of the biggest adversarial people in my whole life.  The exercise designed to help me relinquish and release my long held rage and resentment.  I wrote seven and a half pages.  I ran out of words.  But I didn't run out of rage.

I have carried molten, violent, unfulfilled rage toward this person for at least a decade.  This person is dead, and yet I still hold a belly full of rage.  Raw, ragged, bitter, acidic rage.

It consumes such resources with its existence.  I have carried this wicked ember for so long that despite the fact that it no longer serves a purpose, I don't know how to release it or extinguish it.  It is a companion I have grown too used to despite despising that it exists at all.  I also cannot help but wonder how life will feel without the burn I've become so used to.  

I feel it sitting like a silent scream, desperate to wrack my body in ragged convulsions of hot tears and roaring sobs.  I feel that if I were to relinquish my hold on it, the rage would wring me dry, and maybe consume me outright.  It feels like once the bottle is uncorked and the demon released, its force, alone, will use me up in a blinding, all-encompassing, soul-fire blaze.

Will I survive it?  What will be left of me?  What lies beneath it?  What will take the place it leaves empty and desolate?  Will I be the same when it's done with me?

gws

The Note

Photo by GWS
I received this wonderful note in the mail today. I happened to be looking at a FB post from the person who sent it when I opened it. It is a beautiful expression of appreciation and love, unexpected but wholly welcomed. It came on a day when it is a hard day. Where getting out of bed was hard. Fighting through the school day was hard. Where focusing on work is hard. This person’s words served a divine purpose with divine timing. I needed something to remind me I am enough. Something to remind me that I am seen in this moment when I’m feeling my most hopeless and helpless. Something to remind me that there is love and friendship and beautiful simplicity in my world to buoy my spirit in rough waters. Thank you, beautiful new friend. Your thoughtfulness threw me a lifeline today. I am blessed to know you and blessed to have the opportunity to get to know you better in the future. Thank you more than words can convey.
-gws

Mother’s Day

Handmade Card by GWS
To all of the women who care for others.  
Who nurture.
Who give.
Who love unconditionally.  
Who struggle to keep the world righted when all they want to do is unshoulder their responsibility for just a minute of rest and peace.
For the men who are the sole/soul care giver.
For the mothers who mourn.
For the mothers in spirit and of spirit.
For you all, may this Mother's Day allow you to reflect, to be present, to be honored by your own self, and those in your lives.
Nurturing and tending to other souls is not easy, but it is an honor and blessing.  
I see you and love you, today and all days.
-gws

Shhh

Photo by Kat Jayne on Pexels.com
I wipe the small, petty, vindictive venom from your lips
Sanitize the air polluted by them
I will clip your fangs if I have to
This is not the legacy we will pass on
Your wounds
Claw marks and ripped skin 
Will not mar youthful innocence
And loving hearts
They will continue to know a loving embrace
And soft kisses for as long as possible
Before the ugliness and cruelty of the world
Changes them forever
You will not speed them toward that end

-gws