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This Phoenix Speaks

Seven years in the making, my first published book, This Phoenix Speaks , is now a reality. The tireless and tiring work invested to ma...

my 100 list

1. To dance at my own wedding
2. And dance in my living room sometimes until the day I die
3. See where Anne Frank lived
4. And lost her life—to stand on that hallowed ground
5. I want to stand in a field of lavender
6. And run through fields of tulips.

7. I want to hold hands with the one I love on the White Cliffs of Dover,
8. Stroll along cobblestone streets in Scotland,
9. Ramble through family cemeteries of Ireland,
10. And eat our way through England.

11. To touch the beach with my bare feet somewhere I've never been,
12. Go to the end of the line on a train I've never ridden,
13. Make new friends I might never see again,
14. Try a food I think I will never actually like,
15. And think about something I have never considered before
 Are a few more things I might put on my list.

16. I want to help people who can't help themselves,
17. Visit a hospital enough to make friends with its residents,
18. Learn about ways to keep myself healthy,
19. And actually make some changes for the better.

20. To smile at grief,
21. Go the extra mile,
22. Take time for the weary,
23. Paint without instruction on a large canvas,
24. Make music with friends,
25. Become more of who I am meant to be.

26. I want to find a dirt path to tread with a friend,
27. Talk for hours on end without any real point,
28. Be silent for as long as we wish to allow ourselves to feel
The tug of the eternities on our souls.

29. To laugh with strangers at a comedy club,
30. Play card games half the night,
31. And go to the hole in the wall bar just to play pool twice a month
Would be a perfect delight.
32. Every month, going through my closet to give something away
33. And take time to clean up in my community would make the cut.

34. I want to try something new once a week,
35. Get season tickets to the fine arts in three different cities,
36. Find a place I visit once a year—no more, no less—every year,
37. And take a photo a day every day for a year.

38. To travel across America stopping now and then with little agenda,
39. Then eat my way through Germany,
40. Italy,
41. Wales—even the entire UK—
42. Sweden,
43. And Japan.

44. I hope to find someone who will truly love me in return
45. And stay—forever
46. And make big plans together
47. And break plans when we would rather be flexible.

48. To have my own garden again,
49. Paint walls purple—any shade I'd like,
50. Re-carpet an entire home at least once more,
51. Redesign a kitchen,
52. Remodel a bathroom,
53. And have a lovely little home to share with someone.

54. I hope to go back to school one day,
55. To learn about psychology
56. And law
57. And social change.

58. To help and serve
59. People who don't know where to turn
60. In the midst of everything going on
61. To be a light
62. Of understanding
63. To be compassionate

64. I hope to watch my children
65. Learn new things
66. Learn important
67. and valuable things

68. To be in their adult lives
69. Build a family compound
70. Or a campground
71. Have somewhere we can be together
72. Singing
73. Dancing
Anything

74. I want to keep this list going
75. Beyond what I can imagine now
76. How can one know all that would make a good life
77. Setting goals

78. Like writing even when I don't feel like it
79. Swimming in deeper water than I think I can tread
80. Reaching higher than I can even with a ladder
81. Walking through the valley
82. Even when I climbing mountains might seem better
83. Taking time to listen to the whispers on the wind.

84. I want to breathe more easily
85. When under pressure
86. To be more flexible
87. Like water flowing when snow melts in spring

88. Taking notice of the flowers, trees, and creatures
89. As the world continues on without a word
90. I want to see the changing of the leaves
91. I want to watch the world go by for a moment
92. Instead of always being in the middle of it.
93. I want to listen better to the turning of the tide.

94. I hope to see a million good things
95. Because of the little bit that I can give
96. I hope to be the reason someone feels loved
97. Because of the way I choose to be.

98. A hundred different thing to do
99. Of a hundred ways to live
100. A good life is what I hope to achieve the most.









no one warned me


Like fresh cut flowers
Time fades
No one warned me
How bringing new life
Means watching yourself
Fade away
As your children grow
No one warned me
That it all cuts at your heart
And you're the one
Sending them off
With both hands as they grow
Like uncut flowers
Taking over the garden
With beauty and love
Trying not to get caught on thorns