.
laughter
.
with family and friends
at parties and quiet moments
i laughed and laughed
.
like this day
trying to take a close up photo
and being surprised
by a naughty kitten
.
.
::
Reverb 12/Cultivate 2012:
What was the greatest gift you received in 2012?
::
.
i was
one of the lucky ones
.
365 days
of crazy beautiful
precious life
were gained
.
for this
i feel blessed
.
.
.verb 12
p.s. love in a mist is the name of this flower
::
Reverb 12/Cultivate 2012:
What was lost in 2012? What do you intend to find in 2013?
::
.
i sat
in this chair
again and again
and i listened
.
.
::
Reverb 12/Cultivate 2012:
How did you nourish your beautiful body in 2012?
::
.
i stood
in the light
and i said
yes
.
.
::
Reverb 12/Cultivate 2012:
How did you make a difference?
::
My husband and I are quite the opposites.
He is pragmatic, logical, organized, while I am the creative, disheveled romantic. We were both born the same year, but he is water and I am fire. He is taciturn, while I wear my heart on my sleeve.
We come at life very differently, he the early riser, filling his days with physical activity and work and sports. I am the night owl, and my days are filled with creative wonder and work and reading.
We meet in the middle for meals and family, vacations and holidays, and for a few minutes most nights, in front of a fire. In warm weather, we sit outside beneath the stars with our feet up and music playing. In winter, as soon as we both have finished our work and chores and activity for the day, there is the fireplace.
He will almost always be asleep before nine, while I will sit for hours reading, writing, knitting, thinking, often with whatever game he was watching still playing out unobserved on the television screen.
One night a few weeks ago, as we settled into this nightly ritual, my husband in his spot in the chair closest to the flames, me on the couch with the best view, and all the animals filed in to take their nightly places in this oh-so-quiet drama, (the two gray girls in the chair with him, the two male cats rearranging themselves at whim, and the dog in the extra chair) my husband looked at me and said, “so, here we are.”
We both laughed and settled in.
Indeed.
.
.
::
Reverb 12/Cultivate 2012:
How can you nurture a healthy, loving relationship with your partner?
::
.
in my
garden and
in my
dreams.
.
.
::
Reverb 12/Cultivate 2012:
Post your favourite picture of yourself from 2012, self-portrait or otherwise.
::
a sky
to leap into,
a place
to land.
.
.
::
Reverb 12/Cultivate 2012:
Cultivate isn’t about being in a constant state of happiness — it’s about
practicing happiness, much like you’d practice a sport or musical instrument.
How can you infuse more appreciation for the people, places,
and things that bring you joy?
::
Yesterday, my husband broke my all-time favorite teacup. It was an accident, and I forgave him thirty seconds later (yes, it took thirty seconds). And I know what you’re thinking: it was just a cup.
But it wasn’t. It was the perfect cup. The perfect sky blue color, the perfect cup-in-palm shape, the perfect weight, the perfect size for morning tea. I’ve seen a lot of life reflected in this cup. It’s the first thing I talk to every morning. No one else even wants to talk to me before we’ve shared at least one cup of tea. And by we, I mean me and my cup.
I found it one day at a flea market, years and years and years ago. It jumped right into my hand, knowing it would be going home with me. It only cost a few dollars, and I already had a beige version of the same cup at home, my then-favorite that had developed a hairline crack after many years of daily use. I still have that cup in the back of the cupboard, even though it’s cracked. It’s hard to part with old friends.
I also have a white version of the same cup, which is what I’m drinking out of this morning. And it’s almost as good as the blue one, but if I am honest, I must admit, I’ve always played favorites and loved the blue one just a little bit more. I know it’s wrong. But I couldn’t help it.
Truth is, I have a cupboard full of tea cups. And favorites I use for every different kind of tea. But my favorite tea is morning tea, most especially the very first cup, and my sky blue cup has been through a lot of mornings with me. Outside in the garden sipping a reflection of the sky, inside snuggled up with a book and blanket, work days that I would never have been able to face without my friend in hand.
Don’t get me wrong, in the grand scheme of things, I know this is nothing. That it is, in truth, just a cup. There are ten million things in life more important than this.
But just for this one short minute, in answer to this prompt, I’m allowing myself to mourn my cup.
Call me crazy if you want, I don’t mind.
But whisper, okay? Because I’ll be having a moment of silence.
.
.
::
Reverb 12/Cultivate 2012:
What matters most to you right now?
::
The older I get, the more often I find myself starting books and not finishing them.
It used to be that if I started a book, I would finish it, no matter what. But these days, with so many options, and so little time to give to reading, if a book doesn’t grab me pretty early on, it goes back in the pile. And even if I get halfway through and it isn’t holding my attention, it goes back in the pile.
I feel a slight twinge of guilt about this, always. But, so be it.
I didn’t find an over-the-top favorite this year. A beautiful book to vie for a place on my top ten list. Of course, that can’t happen every year, that list is only for the exceptional standouts.
But there were a few that came very close. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, The Fault in our Stars by John Green, Nightwoods by Charles Frazier, Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. All excellent.
There was also When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams, non-fiction, but beautiful just the same. And I also bought several of Mary Oliver’s books and read her poetry for the first time. To be honest, I hadn’t expected to love it as much as I did. Oh my. Silly me.
So let me ask you this question: What was your favorite book of 2012?
Because you know, there’s still time, and I’m still looking.
.
.
::
Reverb 12/Cultivate 2012:
What was the best book you read in 2012, and why??
::
.
i begged my garden
for forgiveness,
and she
brought me
flowers.
.
.
::
Reverb 12/Cultivate 2012:
What was the most important relationship that you fostered in 2012?
::
