Ode

To all the blog posts in my head...

you were beautiful as i rode the shady lane on the first day the trees were blooming.

you were clever as i walked the rainy streets of Heidelberg and noticed a child - turned into a turtle by his over-sized umbrella - jump. in. every. puddle.

you were ironic when that deep freeze from siberia settled in

you were emotional on that day when everything seemed to go wrong

you were funny on the day that every child seemed to be crying

you were all sorts of things as i walked, biked, traveled, sat, ate, lived these last few months.

i'm sorry i didn't take better care of you. write you down. commit you to memory. tell you to someone other than myself. you really were great but now you have left me with nothing but faint whisperings of what you once were. now i will let you rest. because there is more to discover and more to learn. hopefully i will take better care of those that come. ~love~

a somewhat awkward blog post

...in which I sort of skip over the fact that I haven't written anything here since Christmas and jump in to a soliloquy about my love for spring.


These days of spring - they are darn near perfect.


I track the coming green each morning when I raise my blinds.


The greatest thing about spring in Germany has got to be the flowers. I don't know if Germans are the only people who so brilliantly celebrate spring - but I know I had never seen it before my very first German spring in 2009. Under the grass in medians, on lawns, in parks - wherever there is a small patch of green - some hopeful people planted bulbs. At the first signs of spring, those first few days of thaw, these hopeful buds start sprouting - slowly growing taller than the grass. First the crocuses - purple, white and yellow - bravely lead the color parade. Then the daffodils, turn their happy faces to the sun - bidding it to shine warmer and longer than before. Finally the tulips, oh those beautiful tulips, they show off the colors of the new life of spring.

Someday, when I have a patch of green that belongs to me, I want to be the kind of person who plants bulbs under the grass. I want to live every day with that kind of faith and that kind of hope - there is life, there is spring, there is rejuvination, growth, change. I want to plant bulbs in my own heart, and those of the little ones I teach, bulbs of love, joy, patience, kindness, respect, hope - bulbs that will bloom again and again to exemplify beautiful and growing hearts.


~love~