10/16/09

For You, I Wish Your Freedom
by: Tricia LaVoice

Outside your window a river flows freely home, a butterfly waltzes with the breeze. Blind to this beauty you are frozen tight in a cocoon of indignity unable to see anything but the past. I walked your halls and felt the words of those who have hurt you. I searched your face for your smile and saw you believing in them. I walked your halls and felt you yelling out for help. I listened for your laughter and heard your silence.  Outside your window a river is flowing home and a butterfly is waltzing with the breeze. The water was once frozen, the butterfly once held in a cocoon. What if the snowcap refused the sun’s love never allowing itself to be set free? What if the caterpillar did not trust to see herself as anything but a caterpillar never allowing herself to become the butterfly she was meant to be? I know you cannot forget your past but can you see your beauty? Allow the love to melt away your hurt and set you free? Allow the trust to release you from your cocoon so you can be who you were always meant to be?  For you, I wish your freedom.

 

 

09/12/09

Youth
by Samuel Ullman

Youth is not a time of life - it is a state of mind,
it is a temper of the will,
a quality of the imagination,
a vigor of the emotions,
a predominance of courage over timidity,
of the appetite for adventure over love of ease.

Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years.
People grow old only by deserting their ideals.
Years wrinkle the skin,
but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
Worry, doubt, self-distrust,
fear and despair - these are the long,
long years that bow the head and
turn the growing spirit back to dust.

Whether they are sixteen or seventy,
there is in every being's heart
the love of wonder,
the sweet amazement at the stars
and starlike things and thoughts,
the undaunted challenge of events,
the unfailing childlike appetite
for what is to come next,
and the joy and the game of life.

You are as young as your faith,
as old as your doubt;
as young as your self-confidence,
as old as your fear,
as young as your hope,
as old as your despair.
When the wires are all down
and all the innermost core of your heart
is covered with the snows of pessimism
and the ice of cynicism,
then you are grown old indeed.

But so long as your heart receives messages
of beauty, cheer, courage, grandeur
and power from the earth,
from man and from the Infinite,
so long you are young.

 

08/22/09
"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.  For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.  For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms.  As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others..."

Audrey Hepburn

 

 

08/08/09

For You, I Wish the Growth in Getting Lost
by: Tricia LaVoice

Burred by tears, your little eyes rapidly comb the area, your tiny heart pounds against the walls of your chest as the pang churns in your stomach. Most of us have experienced it at one time or another, the terrifying moment as a child when we realize we are lost. We search desperately through unknown territory yelling out in hopes of being found. Some of us are met by nervous arms, a scolding for wandering while others are reassured we are okay and praised for finding our way home, growing in the experience. Regardless, we all rejoice knowing we are safe. What we did not know as children was getting lost as an adult is just as frightening... You are searching now for your way home, lost in territory of your own life and thoughts you do not recognize. Panic is setting in, voices of wisdom echo off your need to find your way out of this one alone. Respectfully, I move to the side laying my love in your path but be assured, growth can be found in getting lost. If you hit a wall look for the hand prints of those who have hit this wall before you. Do not fear hitting bottom, it gives you something to push off of when heading up. Most of us have experienced it at one time or another, getting lost within our own lives and thoughts, rejoice knowing you are safe. For you, I wish the growth in getting lost.

 

 

08/01/09

For You, I Wish the Wings on Your Back
by: Tricia LaVoice

I remember she was beautiful but I cannot tell you what she looked like. Her words were soft and comforting but I cannot tell you what she said. She came to me when I needed her most, an angel cloaked within the stranger next to me. The news I received that day made life too devastating to feel so numbly I journeyed home to face the unthinkable. The aircraft transporting me swallowed me withholding air but she calmed me, reassured me and Sheppard me safely to where I needed to be. I do not know her name or where she dwells, what she does or where she has been. Was it chance her seat was assigned next to mine? What I can tell you is she has no idea how she touched my life, she may have never thought of me again. Looking back, she gifted me with many things that day but most importantly, she showed me that the ability to be someone’s angel lays within in all of us. That I can make a difference, an essential difference, in a friend’s life or a stranger’s life just by being kind and open. For you, I wish the wings on your back.

 

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