If you’re John Muir
you want trees to live among.
If you’re Emily, a garden will do.
Try to find the right place for yourself.
If you can’t find it, at least dream of it.
•
When one is alone and lonely, the body
gladly lingers in the wind or the rain,
or splashes into the cold river, or
pushes through the ice-crusted snow.
Anything that touches.
•
All important ideas must include the trees,
the mountains, and the rivers.
•
To understand many things you must reach out
of your own condition.
•
For how many years did I wander slowly
through the forest. What wonder and
glory I would have missed had I ever been
in a hurry!
•
Beauty can both shout and whisper, and still
it explains nothing.
•
The point is, you’re you, and that’s for keeps.
~Mary Oliver from “Leaves and Blossoms Along the Way”
God is at home, it’s we who have gone out for a walk.
~Meister Eckhart
Sometimes going for a walk feels to me like a sprint,
going as far and as fast as possible.
Sometimes it is a spontaneous trek into the unknown,
just to prove it can be done so I can find my way back.
Sometimes it is a climb into the dark,
with precipices and crumbling ledges under my feet.
Sometimes it is simply a journey of curiosity
to see what may be around the corner.
Most often it feels like the right place for me.
No matter why or where or how far I wander,
or how slowly,
the path shines just bright enough
to show me the way home
when I am ready.
He is there, waiting,
keeping the light on for me.
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Barnstorming 
Dear Emily,
My mom died on Wednesday. She was one of your subscribers (JoMrsJer@aol.com). I’ve tried a couple times to leave a comment to you about it because you gave mom words, and so often we would share together bits about your posts, a photo, or a line of poetry that touched one or the other. So often we were both touched by the same line. As though for a moment we both balanced precariously on one patch of earth, close enough for it to be like a hug. I wanted you to know. She won’t be commenting again. I won’t see her name in my email box again when I check for her of a morning. But this was ground we shared. Thank you for creating this space.
Kelley
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Dear Kelley, your mother was one of my most frequent commenters and I always loved what she had to say! She also wasn’t hesitant to let me know when I drifted into occasional political commentary – I appreciated her reminder to stay on my mission of bringing something positive to my readers every day. Here is her first comment to me on a post in autumn of 2015 — I think you and your sisters will enjoy this! I will miss Jo so much and wish I could have met her in person! May you always cherish your memories of her. Emily
September 2015: Yes!! Me too! And my daughters as well–the four of us are lovers of autumn and its colorful riches! Here’s a line from a note one of them wrote last week:
” The wind is blowing the summer away. The trees toss. I can see why Isaiah says “the trees of the field clap their hands.” We are at autumns threshold! Suspense for the fall into fall. I come alive this time of year.”
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