All of a sudden - the sun is warmer..the days are longer..the birds are singing their morning songs.

All of a sudden - the winter that never quite arrived..is abating...making room and space for what will soon be spring.

I am reminding myself - it's still February. Winter isn't - yet - done and gone.

On a day like today..when I can smell the damp earth..when feel the warmth of the sun...when hear the singing - I find myself wishing for what's to come.

I imagine flowers blooming. I make my own garden. I celebrate my very own early spring.

Drifting.

Dreaming.

Imagining.

It's a part of the magic and beauty of time spent alone.

Thinking deep thoughts. Thinking the same thoughts that I think every day. Thinking myself out of my drifting..my dreaming..my imagining. Thinking that I 'should'...I 'could'...If only - I 'would'. Thinking that I need to 'do' more...'be' less. Thinking that 'enough' - really isn't.

The strength of that all-powerful thinking mind. The one that chooses..that judges..that dictates and decides.  I remind myself. They're only thoughts. They're not who I am.

Allowing myself to drift with the river's fast-moving currents....to dream of possibilty...to imagine hope and joy.

Allowing myself the gift and space of gentle observation.

Trusting in the process. Believing that whatever I need..I have within. Knowing that this is all a part of the journey.

Of growing.

Of changing.

Of becoming.

When it looked as if everything was turning itself upside down. When what was once so sensible and obvious no longer was. When there was no longer reason or rhyme to be made. When all she had left were endless questions...which were followed with even more questions after that.

When there was nothing left to do..and nowhere left to travel. When the ground on which she walked today..no longer felt like the same one on which she had known yesterday. When there was no thing left to lose....and still so much waiting to be found.

She put her head to the earth...and raised her feet to the sky above her. She stood like that - upside down - for a good long time...until all that was looking upside down began to look just as it should.

And - it was from there in the water's reflections that she found her answers..and her truth. All she needed was that fresh and new perspective. A different point-of-view.

A word turned upright.

The journey was long and arduous with many unexpected twists and turns and bumps along the way. Neither was quite sure for what it was they were searching for...but that they were both searching they knew for sure.

It's hard to know how many times their paths crossed without either of them knowing. It's hard to know how many times they circled around one another..unaware of the other's presence.

And then - on a very long and lonely day they found themselves - unexpected in a forest of colorful trees and flowers.

One thought - this would be a nice place to rest. The other - must have thought the same exact thing.

It was there that they found themselves. As if they'd always known.

Best of old and brand new friends.

Keeping it simple...

What other way is there to start a weekend?

Monkey  mind - I've heard it called. When thoughts..when ideas..when all of the endless 'to dos' run one into another. When even the act of simple and organized list-making seems like 'too much'.

On a day where I haven't known where to begin..and still - have no idea where it will end.

When the demands are much greater than the supply. When there's just not enough of me for all of what needs to get done.

Just breathe - I tell myself. Feel the ground. It's still there beneath me.

And focus. Focus on just one thing. And then another. And then one more after that.

Just one small thing at a time.

'It took me a long time to arrive' - she offered up in casual conversation. 'It's my birthday '-  she added. 'Today - I'm 90 years old. When people asked my age I'd always shrug it off that I was somewhere over 50...somewhere betwixt and between here and there. But today...today - I'm 90. Today - I'm very very proud.'

I begged for words of wisdom. I asked for advice. I so desperately wanted to hear of the lessons she'd learned along the way. I could think of a million questions..but I just couldn't bring myself to ask them. All I wanted to know was 'how...how...and how'???

She paused for a moment. She had to think. What would be the one kindest..wisest..most important thing she could offer up and say?

And then - she began:

'To all you young women..I would say:  Don't worry about getting older..because no matter what - it will happen someday. Laugh. Dance. Love. Wear your days in bright and living color. And remember - that each and every decade is a new spring. We're all in training. The best - I know - is still to come.'

Some days - it's about simplicity. It's about order. It's about making something out of nothing at all.

Some days - it's about creating an ordinary scene and dreaming and imagining.

These five lovely ladies standing strong and straight and tall. Their bodies - softer..rounder..differently shaped. These five beauties - who  knew life...who savored it..who believed that now is as good a time as any.

They'd seen joy. They'd seen sorrow. They'd experienced love. They'd endured loss.

There was a time when they believed that they'd never age..that youth was everlasting. But then - there they were. Here they are. Five lovely ladies standing strong and straight and tall. A little lumpier..a little bumpier...a little wider - perhaps - at the hips than they'd once been.

Five stylish...intelligent...wise ladies. Each growing into true selves of their own.

Yes - it's another hallmark holiday. A one that is marked by consumerism and chocolate and the reddest of red roses. A celebration of romance...of magical wishes..of dreams...and always - of love.

After the noise..after the ornamentation..after all else - I find myself wondering - what is it really about? What is this thing called 'love'?

I watched as this elegant and graceful pair wove themselves in and out and around one another. If they could talk..if I could hear - I'm certain that one completed the sentences that the other had started. Such perfect synchronicity. They mirrored one another's every thought and action. Does it get any more beautiful  - I wondered - than this?

What was most remarkable - or so I thought - was how they appeared to hold space for one another. How - they waited. How - they listened. How - without a single word spoken - they appeared to understand.

And - it was right there in that space..in that quiet..in the stillness of the moment - I was sure that I saw them look one another directly in the eye. A glimpse. A knowing. An  understanding. That - this is exactly what it is.

For better or worse. For seasons of prosperity and those of famine. For the days and weeks and months they spend feathering and warming the nest...hatching their babies..protecting them..teaching them..and then - together - watching them grow and go.

Yes - it's Valentine's Day..and just another of many hallmark holidays. But - my watching these pure white birds do what they do naturally - I couldn't help but believe. Yes - love can endure. And perhaps - just maybe...if nothing else - it merits honoring and celebrating as just that. Plain and simple and pure.