I’m up in the night with the moonlight and critters who explore in the dark, though this almost full Strawberry moon offers light.

The last few days I’ve spent time with my neighbor’s mother who is suffering from memory loss, or is she suffering?  It’s her experience, yes, but there is an immediacy to it, a presence.  Perhaps it is that she’s been through the anger stage of losing control, of not being able to live on her own, or drive, and so now there is a settling into gentleness, a tender rhythm.

I feel embraced in a softening sea as I lose fear around one more thing I might fear.  Yes, it requires the help and patience of others, but perhaps there is a gift in it, too, a gift for the neighborhood as we absorb memories flickering like stars.

Steve and I were married 53 years ago on this day, June 19th.  Now, it’s a legal holiday, Juneteenth, honoring the end of slavery in the United States.  May we continue to honor and cultivate the interconnectedness that brings peace.