Spring

Western North Carolina simply burst into an early Spring while I was there recently. This year's explosion of blooming may not have been just for me but I felt it was a literal voice speaking to my heart. I heard many things. One thing it said to me was that while we live we can look outward and upward with hope and joy. But to do that sometimes we have to look past some things right in front of us. Perhaps focusing beyond where we are at the moment helps us get through some difficult things.

The poet, William C. Bryant wrote: The little windflower whose just opened eye is as blue as the spring heaven it gazes at.

I want to live like this. I want to focus on what will be a reflection in me that gives hope and happiness. I say this in the middle of feeling such sadness because of the loss of my sister-in-law, but she lived her last days with incredible hope and dignity. She didn't focus on the cancer and modeled such peace to all of us. She was a gardener, and nothing made her happier than to garden. Just days before she passed she happily spoke of expecting the blooming of her pear trees in the back yard. By her front porch steps her lovely Bleeding Hearts spoke appropriately of our feelings at her leaving us far too soon. 

Her home looks up from a lovely fertile valley to the lofty Black Mountains. Just beyond them is the Blue Ridge Parkway. Mount Mitchell was her favorite place to visit. That mountain is as high as you can climb east of the Mississippi. Often the mountain is swathed at it's feet with a blanket of fog and has bright sunny winds at it's summit. If you were down in the valley would you be aware the sun is shining in a place beyond where you were? Now that is a thought! I feel that something of her presence will remain up there. And I won't ever go to visit after this without knowing the memory of her rides those winds.