How did the end of the school year get so insane? How did my allergies get so intense that I couldn't properly breathe for a whole week? How did I get 20 mosquito bites that are now looking like a case of chicken pox? How did anxiety creep back in, always on the 101 heading into Boyle Heights?
Well, of course I know the answers to all of these questions and the only thing I have the energy to do is rest and prepare for my weeks away.
To ease some of this building anxiety and stress I want to remember these words because just reading them puts my feet back on the ground.
“WITH THE PRESENCE OF GREAT UNDERSTANDING AND FREEDOM IN US, WE CAN EMBRACE HARDSHIPS COUNTLESS TIMES WITHOUT FEAR.” -Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist Monk as shared by Denise Chavez in an email about documenting 100 memories.
The lone camelia bud sits and then falls and I would get upset that our bushes were't producing. But then I remember that we don't really water them, yet they grow green anyways. They could have died by now, but some fishy water plate is keeping them alive. The backyard one gives pink and white candy stripe buds that never turn into flowers. They fall where the swingset used to be and the animals walk around them and we don't even notice. Deep blue see through plastic rope, light blue plastic seats, iron and a blue striped slide. Red bottlebrush sticky hair on all of it. Push and pull, imagining I could fly over this house if I wanted to. But I didn't want to.
Try it, write down a memory and share it here.
1 comment:
the great camellia conundrum! sooo close to being flowers.
i love this idea of documenting memories. thanks for the journal inspiration!
i'm shy to share a memory right now, but maybe i will feel brave and come back later.
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