DAY 32 :: Run to them, hold them

If I had 37 days…

I’d run to my son and hold him for a long time. I’d tell him that he is the greatest miracle in my life and that being his mother is the most important thing I’ve ever done. I’d tell him that I love him and the past 19 years with him have been my most joyous.

I would visit my brother in prison and try to hug him through the glass barrier that divides us. I would tell him that I love him and believe in him. I’d spend time with all my loved ones and cherish them. I’d do the best I could to make a real difference in their lives – with a thought, a word, a feeling, a kindness, or a memory that would stay with them long after I am gone. I’d write everything I could about who I am and what I have learned about life, love and freedom.

I’d thank all the important people in my life… for being part of my journey… for teaching me… for allowing me to fully see who I have been… and for helping me to become who I am today.

I’d forgive. I’d say I am sorry.

I’d go to the ocean and visit places I’ve longed to see. I’d write, listen to music, eat delicious food, dance, swim, play, walk, hold hands, hug, kiss… and I’d smile and laugh… and cry.

I’d celebrate my life… and rejoice in all that I have experienced… the joy, the pain, the disappointment, the hope… the LOVE.

I think I’ll go bake one of my Grandmother’s chocolate cakes now, surround myself with the aroma, and remember the love that she so richly gave before she passed from this precious life.  Wherever you are, let’s celebrate this moment together.  Have some cake.

The Ink

I watch the days go by
As the ink drains rapidly from my pen
Flowing from my veins onto the paper
And into your heart
Where the pain, joy, and truth of my words
Will be etched
The ink is eager to leave this place
And embark on a journey
To a world I cannot see or touch
A world where powerful connections are formed
A world where we are one

~ Suzanne Kaye

One of the things I love so much about the essays and poems people are sending? The photographs.

A mom and her son, the light of her life. Look at their faces, so tightly together. They are walking amongst us every day, these people intertwined in ways we cannot know. They are on the airplanes we board, in the line at the grocery store. They are people who would give their lives for each other. They are the loving old couple on the bus, and they are even the teenager screaming at her mom. Each would run to the other at the end.

It’s extraordinary, really. Look at the people you see on the street tomorrow and know that they feel the same depth of love that Suzanne Kaye feels for her son. We each have the capacity for that kind of intensity, and yet we lose it somehow in the day-to-day. Let’s regain it. Let’s celebrate it. Like Suzanne Kaye, let’s give voice to it.

Suzanne, a copy of LIFE IS A VERB will be on its way to you next week, all the way from North Carolina to Washington state. With love.