STAY, in the Breath

letters from a writer & photographer's journey

The Wilds: Live Awake in Wonder

Wild, wilds, wilderness…these words have been calling to me for some time now. I see them everywhere I go. I feel them. I want them. Then I wake here. I put another book in another box from one of our many bookshelves to go resell it. We are downsizing, eliminating, purging—from a large house to a small house in the next few weeks, one step at a time. One. decision… Read More

Night As Bright As Day: Pre-Eclipse Ponderings

Quick Personal Update With Thanks! I have so many things I want to tell you all. First, I want to say thank you so much to everyone who shared my book re-launch with others last week. I am thunderstruck. For someone who never expected to write a book at this stage of my life, the fact that it is published and actually circulating out in the wide world at all.. Read More

Free…Like Freedom and Free Book

Well, the day is beginning to wrap up as I send this out or maybe it already has where you live. Whether the sun is beginning to peak out or hide-away, here’s a story for you. But first, if you don’t have a lot of reading time tonight—I want you to have this free gift from me—my book is free on Amazon Kindle! Click here to go get it. Once upon.. Read More

How Freedom Sings P.S. It’s not how we thought

When I got married I wanted to dance. I don’t mean I was so in love that I felt like dancing. I mean there was that too. But, really I wanted dance to literally be a part of our ceremony. Or, at least, afterwards? I had grand schemes, all locked away in my mind. For several reasons none of this occurred, but there was a woman I knew who did dance. So.. Read More

Home, and a Pretty Long List that Helped Me Get There

Hello Old Friends Ahh…Hi there, I’ve been wanting to sit down and write to you all for a while now. I have had several people ask me lately for a health status update and it seems like a good time to send out a more personal note, because I have very happy news. After six months of solid fevers, several more of intermittent fevers and basically ten months all together of.. Read More

Dear Lovely Bird Who Doesn’t Know She is Free

Beneath undesired circumstances I was given an opportunity to make a choice. I have chosen to believe that to simply be alive is holy. I choose this, not without a struggle today and maybe again tomorrow. But eventually this will get clearer, I know that because it already has, but not how I thought it would, not the way I expected. A Story A few weeks ago, I asked a.. Read More

Our Stories, Our Needs: Seeing What’s True

Our stories are ours, but when we give them away that’s when they become much more, or maybe better said, that’s when we realize the truth—they are more. The truth is always there. The more we practice this, the more our seeing gets attuned to truth in the first place. Sharing is good, however, it’s scary too, I know. So many places to trip up in this process: comparing, and believing.. Read More

Words: For When Clarity Comes With Confusion

Sometimes clarity has a companion. Sometimes clarity comes in the midst of a cloud, piercing through one minuscule facet of its heaviness and there it is—illuminating myriad colors. But, then it’s just all cloudy again. We’re encompassed, again. So we weep. So we soar. Out of tears, thoughts. —Leon Wieseltier Sometimes we’re immersed in waters, the waters that cleanse us. Beneath—sounds, sights, clarity is muted—a story half understood. This baptism,.. Read More

While I Was Sleeping…

Hello Friends! I’m thinking it’s time for an update! Since I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I’ve been dealing with some illness I wanted to take a few minutes to share on that level. It’s difficult to explain something you don’t understand, so I have not given many specific details about my health journey. One measurable issue however has been a consistent fever basically every day of the past six months, until.. Read More

Dear Dying Heart: A Slight Figure of Speech

“They say you’ve gotta lose a couple fights to win It’s hard to tell that from where I’m sitting They say that this is where the fun begins I guess it’s time that I was quitting A slight figure of speech I cut my chest wide open They come and watch us bleed Is it art like I was hoping now?” —Avett Brothers, Slight Figure of Speech Dear fellow sojourners.. Read More