i feel emphatic about not being static...

I'm so grateful that I have these small humans in my life. Even though it's not easy, even though the days seem so long, and some days I just don't have it in me to be all that I should, I am so lucky to have this love. And this one here...she will always find me on my bad days and lay her head on my shoulder. The world may think you're so disconnected, but you always seem to know, and always find a way to connect to the very heart of me and mend what needs mending. With a touch, a look, a cuddle. Without a single word, you just seem to know. Thank you for the reminder: that I AM enough, that I AM loved, that I AM needed...that tomorrow is another day.

Last week my father-in-law passed away. We've been family for over 15 years and it was very much not expected. But life (and death) doesn't wait for you to be ready for it. He was a big man, in every sense of the word--big personality, big opinions and big ideas. We were very different people and we probably didn't agree on many things but I think we had a somewhat decent rapport--all things considered. I so wish that circumstances in the end were very different. I wish...so many things. Mostly, I hope that he found grace and was at peace in the end. I hope that the people he impacted and left behind are afforded the same grace and peace. As they grow older, I will tell his granddaughters that he was many things in life; but really he was a visionary in many respects. And for all his unfinished endeavors, it was his vision for those around him that spoke to the potential in him.