Greetings!

September is here and l love it. (I forgot to post this in September 2025, so ignore the February date. ADHD is fun.)

Often when I'm hiking, I pause along the trail when I see sun filtering through leaves. I love the intricate delicacy. It reminds me of a drawing class that I took in college where we were assigned to draw anything from nature; I spent about 10 hours in the presence of leaves, drawing each little pathway connecting to each other.

Nature never ceases to amaze me or pause me in my movement.

I feel like today, after so many beautiful and less than beautiful events in the last few months, it is an excellent day for pause.

A pause in poetry. A pause in focus. A pause in future thinking.

​In our household it's been a few weeks of sorrow. My grandmother died. And I've been sitting with the loss of her, trying to comprehend that the last of my grandparents have said their farewells now. I'm feeling grateful for how she changed people with her bright laugh and warm hugs.

On top of that, our kid is going through a rough time right now. We can chalk it up to hormones, the start of the school year, and their life at their other home (50% split situation) is less than ideal but not enough to legally change. This manifests in our home as panic attacks, temper tantrums, and general screaming, especially every night at bed time. (We are all in therapy.)

Atrocious politics are also happening but I don't have the energy to talk about it. My energy was wiped away with the screaming and the grief.

Consequently, I enter September with as much pause as possible. Autumn is coming and I look for the leaves and sunshine. I look for water that flows under bridges smoothly without effort. I listen for birds as they call to each other in the small forest near our home. I pay attention to the pathways that all link to each other, remembering that life doesn't always make sense but is still beautiful and connected.