Love Trumps Hate

Oh Donald Trump.

I was in shock, like much of the world, to discover that he won the election. I mean how in the name of all that is good, sane, decent, civilized, honest, intelligent and human did this happen? Especially at a time when our floating blue and green planet needs our care and protection the most.

Fortunately or unfortunately (depends how you look at it) I was in an unusual situation when I heard the election results.

I was hooked up to several monitors in the intensive cardiac care unit in one of our city’s most wonderful hospitals while doctors searched to find the source for the “heart attack” I appeared to have suffered last Saturday night.

Yes, this was before the election results

so I can’t blame Donald for that!

Luckily, strangely (just like life) the enzymes in the blood test that declared with almost certainty that my heart had suffered a traumatic event and been injured were proved wrong by the best tests science has to offer.

Five days later, on a sunny Wednesday afternoon
I walked out of the hospital, heart-healthy and free!

The first thing that struck me, waiting outside to be picked up by my children, was how blue the sky was. A crisp November breeze rushed up to fill my lungs and the setting sun caressed my cheek with a mother’s love.

This world is so beautiful.

I wanted to skip, jump, sing, dance.

I was healthy!

I was home.

I was loved.

My husband never left my side in the hospital (sleeping the first 2 days in a chair, and the rest in a cot) and my children spoiled me each day with their time, homemade meals, fresh clothes, board games and stories.

My epiphany: Donald Trump’s win changes nothing.

The world existed before him and the world will exist after him
because there are billions of people who know and cherish
what really matters...

* LOVE *

Family, friends, health, home, nature, the sun, moon and sky.

At home, looking out my kitchen window, it felt like I’d never left, never been terrified for my heart, my life. I watched the giant yellow maple in our backyard shower the ground with its sunshine-yellow leaves…

With everything that had just happened to me I followed the urge to be there, right under it, head turned up to watch the leaves
dance through the air on their way to the ground,
to be part of that beauty.

We are surrounded by magic…every day.

Donald Trump can’t ruin that.

I, and billions of others, won’t let him.

And whatever he does ruin, we will fix.

Continue to believe in magic and magic will continue to exist.

And So It Begins

Winter is playing a game of peek-a-boo with us,

you know how it likes to keep things fun.

A little frost here to decorate the flowers that remain,

a dusting of snow there that disappears by mid-day...

It knows how downright unenthusiastic we can be

when it first arrives so it likes to keep us guessing,

is it here or is it not?

We become increasingly grumpy and morose

as everything around us shrivels up and dies

once the cold temperatures set in.

Our colourful landscape is stripped bare,

reduced to black and white.

And the plants that once brought us such happiness and joy?

They've turned into scary-looking monsters

that shiver in place and haunt our garden.

But, this does happen every year.

Don't lose heart.

In no time, once our eyes lose all memory

of what vibrant spring, summer and fall colours look like,

all that white fluffy stuff

will appear more and more beautiful.

Of course, there are also winter survival strategies:

You can always pretend it's just not happening.

This liar seagull is splashing around

in -1 C sun-dappled water,

but you'd never know it.

Because it's swimming in the balmy waters

of Lake Denial!

Dreaming of warmer temperatures

and soft, flower-scented breezes works well too.

If you do it right
by the time you wake up
it'll be Spring again!

But, probably the best strategy of all

is to find your inner glow,

(we all have one.)

Surround yourself with the warmth and light
of family and friends.

Laugh, complain,
be daring and go outside.

There's plenty to enjoy about every season.