The Hound Of Love is eight years old now, and there are some gray whiskers on her chin. Otherwise, she is still so puppy-like, I still sing to her in bed every night “You Light Up My Life,” I still yell at her when she is eating chicken poop or some other disgusting things. She loves her Teddy Bear, sleeps with it still, carries it around the house. Lenore still has the greatest power in the world, the power to make you smile. You cannot look at Lenore and not smile.
Reclaiming my space, bit by bit, day by day, photo by photo, word by word. Every morning I read the poem we read at our wedding, it is nourishing and healing and it re-charges me, expands my space, prepares it for the day:
“What I want to say is
that the past is the past,
and the present is what your life is,
and you are capable of choosing what will be,
darling citizen.
So come to the pond,
or the river of your imagination,
or the harbor of your belonging,
and put your lips to the world,
And live
your life.”
– Mary Oliver, “Mornings At Blackwater”
