Life is a river. Not a river raging out of its banks anymore. Just a gentle flow of a river. Isn’t that beautifious? Beautiful, ❤️ I mean? Grind your bones, blood stopping beautiful? It is because we love our river so much. Like our River Phoenix. And our Joaquin Phoenix and our newest little River Song Phoenix, Joaquin’s son. Like our Pan. God of the river, he is. God of the ocean.🌊 God of the forest. 🌳 God of the desert. 🌵 God of the wind. 🌫️ Have you been able to touch silence? Like, really? In the quiet of the night before the birds begin their cacaphony of sound? Or in the two a.m. stillness of poems? Inside the touch of your sweet companion’s arms? When you hold your little one to your heart? When you talk to your dog or your cat? When a cow comes and nuzzles you with her grassy breath? When you glimpse an otter in your backyard fountain? When you look up at the trees? Well, silence is hard won really after covid. That was the death toll. That kind of silence. Pure boredom it was. Brutal. I don’t know how we survived. We know our older kids have barely talked to us for years. They have their friends on their computers after all. Oh no. Not to worry. You should see how many friends they really have. They have their ways. You must hear them sometimes. But mostly they type.

So, a river. There are just a few that go round the world. The Nile is one. So is the Tennessee River. All the rivers feed into the ocean. The fresh water feeds into the salt marshes. The salt marshes replenish the seas. It’s all one big connected, glorious circle of life. Our salmon, our grizzlies, our orcas. All together in one bonded whole. So do something else to free yourself of the ties that bind you today. I don’t know what. Walk barefoot in the grass. Dance a little jig. Figure out how to play the spoons. Did you hear it? In A Rooted Body? It’s not enough to be here. It simply isn’t, peoples. We need much, much more than that. We deserve it, too. If you don’t feel like you deserve it yet, go away. We like our lives. We really do. We have struggled and suffered and nearly died a thousand miserable deaths. We are ready to thrive right now. First you survive, then you thrive. Then you spend all your time playing. When you’re not working and hanging out with the cool kids. When you’re not eating or drinking your special potions and concoctions. Okay, loves, seize the day once again. I hear the birds saying, “come out! come on! come in! come, come!” There are so many ways people distract themselves. Constantly. But I know you never do. I just think it gets a little hard sometimes to go from one thing to the next. Sometimes the pace feels too fast still and sometimes it feels too slow. When that happens take Martha Beck’s advice and lie right down for a nap or plop down on the floor or the grass and take it a wee bit smaller. A wee bit slower. Never really a wee bit faster. The trick is in the rhythm. Take your rhythm into you as a beacon of pure delight. I find you so delightful, sweet. So have a treat and move along. Or stay stock still. Doesn’t really concern me at all. You my friend, are free as a cuckoo bird. And just as crazy. Like a loon!!!