My Journey Not to Settle...anymore!: A Daughter's Journey

My favorite quote (or reminder as I like to think of them)...

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” (Marianne Williamson - A Return to Love)

Monday, January 24, 2011

A Daughter's Journey

"Flowing thru her, it pressed against her heart. mixing with pieces of her insides, it flowed out of her, back to the world, and into her work. and that was her offering." ~ Teri, Bone Sigh Arts

She taught us so much in her experience. She felt each moment, did her "job", and shared it with all of us.

My friend Mary lost her dad last night. I lost another piece of my "old self" learning of his passing. I found another way to find peace in all the mistakes our parents made (to us) and all of the mistakes I make as a parent. I found peace, through her journey, as my friend Mary will struggle to find in the coming days.

Mary knew of her daddy's eminent passing as she became the gentle caregiver and best friend to her dad for the past years. And through this journey, Mary found grace through words and her words scattered grace over all of us that she touched with them. I didn't even know her father, but when she wrote of the time that she fell down an icy hill and looked up to find his stoic figure reaching down to help her little body up, I felt as if I could walk with my arm locked in his down the street or sit on a park bench and skip stones into the water with him. When I read her story of the attic to my husband, even he, who doesn't know Mary or her father, felt the pull on his own fatherly heart. Mary has walked us through her daughterly life and made us all better daughters because of her journey.

My sweet Mary. May you find peace in the last chapter. May you find time to skip through sunny fields of flowers with no worries of time or regrets for having spent any. And may you always feel the love of the daughters you have forever changed.

There is a part of a BoneSigh that I think is so perfect for this time and (I swear) written JUST FOR our sweet Mary at just this given time -- "...she set down the past and gently, with great care, she held the present. She held him and she held love."

Thank you for teaching us all that, Mary, and may God continue to hold your heart!