Agree

Swinging in a hammock in the hot sun today reminded me so much of our trips to Tuscany where my husband's father has a home in his ancestral village.

As we walked over the mountain meadows, we crushed wild oregano under our sandals, and its scent wafted into the hot air. We heard the shush of a snake as it rushed through rattling, dry grasses, into cool homes under shale rocks. I love being in those mountains. They feed me like the ocean does, like the waters of the bays in the Pacific Northwest, like the creak of rigging and smell of creosote in boats.

Last year, while inhaling Tuscany through my pores, I wrote this:

Agree to pick up the next puzzle piece
to step
into a quickened labyrinth of fear
to walk through the static fog
of anxiety.

Agree and you will see
as future unravels into present
and you stand in a pattern of your own
knitting
you will see

See the past, dropped stitches, burls
whorls and how

How this now is safe and cuddled
How this now can relax and unwind
How this now can be gracious and forgiving

Stepping through the weft.
Step through the weft.
Next step.

For all of us who are repatterning our lives at this very moment, who face extreme anxiety and fear as we confront old programming, remember our safety.

And for every being on this planet who is caught in war or torture or starvation and is not safe, my prayers go out to you, that you find safety and peace.