1379 INTRO TO MY INEXPERIENCED ADVENTURES INTO PARENTING Part 14

1967
Though the rawness of Jack's desire to enjoy
A wild thing of his own leaves us speechless
I wouldn't be surprised if husband and wife exchange words
After bidding Will and his pet leopard, good night, or
Perhaps not, since I've no clue what goes on
Behind our neighbors' closed door just as they've
No way to know what takes place when
Will and I are, together ... alone
At any rate, having little conscious awareness of my
Instinctive participation in the game of Chase and Switch
My intelligence does not realize that I've been chasing Will
Ever since we broke up, five years ago (right after
My high school graduation) ...
And though we got back together, six weeks
Later, after a chance meeting, down town
(More about that break up and patch up, when that story feels
Ripe for the pickin's) reconnection does not mean that
Both people offer love to each other as openly and completely as
That which had become my habit during childhood after
My beloved grandpa and baby sister 'disappeared', unexpectedly
And mysteriously, forever, just a few weeks apart—
And though at three, I'd no conscious clue of
How fleeting life can be, reflection suggests that
From that grievous time on
I'd harbored this subconscious belief:
If I love you, you'll receive only the best of me
Regardless of how little you offer in return, because
It's my way to ensure that I'll not take time spent
With a precious person for granted, and as I'd
Experienced fate snatching loved ones away
Without offering me a chance to say 'I love you, goodbye'
You'll have no reason to doubt the depth of my love unless
Your defense system builds a wall that shuts me out ...
And to this very day, that's the way
I freely (intuitively) choose to live my life—offering
Only the best of myself, indicative of this fact:
Once you've won my love
Your heart can feel assured that my heart expands to
Hold one and all, suggesting why, presently
There's no reason to fear game playing, at least not
On my end of the rope ...

BTW:  Do you recall a post, which, written
Early on in my blogging history
Had clearly stated that one missing detail is
Empowered to transform a story into that which it was not?
Well, if we back track to the beginning of this intro to parenting
(Which got sidetracked when stream of consciousness chose to
Describe The Leopard Lady and The Big Snow of '67)
You may remember my writing that Jack encountered
The Leopard Lady on the landing between
Their front doors, which were situated close enough to share in
A furtive kiss, thus leading the imaginative reader to
Believe that no matter how responsible this pair of
Good souls proved to be, a foreshadowing of
Adultery was forthcoming, when, in truth
Two couples had peopled that scene rather than
Two people ... And the fact that that detail had not
Been revealed, early on, may have served to
Derail your thought process, which, upon
Leaping ahead, might have freed your imagination to create
A fantasy of your own making, which is common to
Human nature, as a whole, suggesting the
Importance of this insight into experiencing
A life well lived:  If we hope to live life fully engaged
It's important to pay mind to being consciously attuned to
Each moment as it unfolds while simultaneously
Acquainting ourselves with the host of
Contradictive forces that vie for dominance
Within our own brains or else you can be assured of
Not knowing yourself as well as you'd thought ...
And not until you've gained insight into
Recognizing your contradictive traits with
A greater semblance of clarity will
You be able to accept the contradictive traits of others, which
In addition to irritating you to no end ...
Actually mirror your own ...

1378 INTRO TO MY INEXPERIENCED ADVENTURES INTO PARENTING Part 13

1967
Though you'd have to search far and wide to find
People who proved more responsible than
We and our new friends proved to be
Upon arising from the mattress on the floor
Will and I and Jack and Jill can be seen laughing
As gleefully as a bunch of kids playing
Hooky from school, because the news has just reported that
Our corner of the world is still in a flash frozen state and
Thus will all employment (unless
You operate a mega sized snow plow) remain
At a standstill for at least one more day, and
As our youthful spirits can't help but take flight
We find ourselves standing on the third floor
Landing, outside our apartments' front doors hugging and
Bidding each other good night when Jack, taking
A good look at me, turns to his bride, and
As his eyebrows furrow, indicating
A change of attitude taking place, his eyes
Shift back and forth from
The ruby lipped Leopard Lady to his sweet, young wife
Who stands before us wearing a long flannel nightgown, peeking
Out from beneath the hem of her warm, furry pink robe with
Pink furry slippers to match, and as
Large, round, metal curlers, helmet her twenty-three year old head—
The comparison, staring back at Jack offers him leeway to say:
Why don't you ever do that for me???

1377 INTRO TO MY INEXPERIENCED ADVENTURES INTO PARENTING Part 12

2015
Experience has made me aware of this fact:
Human nature has a way of enticing couples, who
Love each other, to play the game of Chase and Switch, which
Will and I had played subconsciously (unknowingly), too often

For our own good
One therapist labels this psychological phenomenon
'Come here, go away' ...
On the other hand, when, over time, complacency
Steals away a couple's hots for each other, Chase and Switch may
Prove to be a good game to resume—as long as both remember that
It's only fair to take turns for this reason:  If one does all the chasing
While the other remains in subconscious retreat, a resentful sense of
Frustration has reason to build, suggesting why our
Defense systems tend to shelve that game in favor of becoming
More attentive to pleasures won by achieving goals so difficult
As to challenge our souls to grow ever more insightfully bold, and as
Examples of games people unwittingly play are sure to
Emerge as stories, concerning our marriage, continue to unfold
Suffice to say that whenever The Leopard Lady
Felt need to purr on our bed, you can bet that
Will had remained too preoccupied with
Life's most stressful side to pay me much mind, and
If you think to ask:  Well, what did Will do to unstress?
I'd reply:  Will did that which had become
His habit (and habits are hard to break) during boyhood:
Whenever anxiety, concerning any of life's hardships
Overwhelmed his spirit's ability to enjoy himself socially ...
He 'lost' himself in sports, and thus did

I (noting my husband's habit of releasing tension by
Actively pursuing sports during the little free time he
Had from studying) choose to intuitively slip a football jersey

Over my head before sliding next to him in bed until
My creative imagination conjured up
The Leopard Lady, who, though costumed for
A wild time had no conscious clue of this underlying fact:
Rather than feeling excited when thoughts of
Taking a wild ride came to mind, my wild thing
Had experienced reason for anxiety to spike, and
Thus did subconscious fear give rise to tension, born of
Inner conflict, which forbade my imagination to
Go any further than costuming until two decades, later, when
I enrolled in a class which offered
My flash frozen libido reason to thaw, but
I'm getting too far ahead of today's story, so
Let's back track to 1967, at which time
My heart longed to conceive a child; however, being
An exceptionally responsible person, not once did I
Forget to swallow THE PILL, again
BTW ... If you think I've forgotten that the title of these
Last dozen posts refers to my earliest foray into parenting
Please think again, because deeper truth suggests that
My story-telling style takes a circuitous route for this reason:
I place my trust in my power of intuition to guide
My trains of thought toward gaining insight into that which
I need to know, today, about emotional reactions and
Personal vulnerabilities that my defense system
Kept hidden from my conscious awareness behind
My layered wall of denial at an earlier time in my life, and
Thus, each time you witness my mind engaged in
The writing process,  I am actively challenging
My brain to work as an intelligent, well balanced whole in hopes of
Accomplishing my heartfelt goal of
Enriching my peace of mind, and
Thus do you watch me reaching ever more deeply into
My memory so as to extract
'Forgotten details', which denial had buried, thus detouring
My sense of self from developing a voice, necessary to
Assert my most basic personal needs, aloud, and
If you think that my conscious mind had a clue that
At 5am, this morning, intuitive thought would awaken
My need to express this string of insights which rode
Out of my subconscious on
Today's train of thought, while one word after another
Chugged out of the intuitive portion of my mind
May I respectfully request that you scroll up and
Re-examine the depths of my mental musings until
A lasting sense of insight-driven absorption is yours ...

1967
As evening draws toward night, suggesting
That Annie, Will, Jack and Jill no longer feel like ten year olds
We refrain from acting like four monkeys, jumping on the bed
And instead, can be seen stretched out atop
Our king sized mattress in a well-ordered fashion:
Boy, girl, boy, girl
And all is quiet as the merriment in our voices has
Reason to retreat into silence as
Four pairs of eyes remain glued to
The black and white TV screen, which offers us footage of
Our flash-frozen cityscape, still buried alive under
God's avalanche of snow, and while feeling all safe and cozy
We four grow aware of the fact that our happy day had offered
Horrendous hardship to many poor souls who'd been
Out-of-our-sight-out-of-our-minds ... highlighting, once again
That one person's light-hearted romp can be
A heavy burden to another, and though
We'd felt chagrin to think of having enjoyed
A day of pure delight while others had suffered so grievously
Chagrin proved short-lived, because our spirits, being young, had
Energy to burn, and as we could not leave our neighborhood to
Help anyone had we tried, the next morning saw us rising, feeling
Fully rested with an abundance of youthful energy to burn, and
Rather than deeming ourselves a selfish quartet for choosing to
Pleasure ourselves, again, intuition kicked in, knowing that
All work no play leads not to sainthood but to burnout ... which
Is exactly where Will had, unwittingly, been heading ... And
Hindsight suggests that overtaxing his brain describes
Jack's path, as well ... However
I'm getting ahead of myself, again, so suffice to say that
Once the nightly news ends and yawns cycle round
Indicating time to bid our new friends a good night, which
Promises to offer our bodies and mental engines time to
Relax, recharge and refuel
A short but significant conversation, which
Catches my attention enough to be banked in my memory, is
About to take place between Jack and Jill ...

1376 INTRO TO MY INEXPERIENCED ADVENTURES INTO PARENTING Part 11

1967

Upon awakening the morning after our trek home

This blizzard of mind blowing proportions

Can still be seen raging outside the frosty pane

Of our bedroom window, making it impossible for

Anyone to go to work, and suddenly, Will and I, feeling

As gleefully free as my fifth grade class of ten year olds

Realize that Mother Nature is liberating us from

Our daily responsibilities, suggesting that

We can play today away to our heart's content

So, just like a couple of kids, enjoying a snow day, that's

Exactly what we plan to do—

And as we have no need to own ski clothes, as of yet

He and I can be seen dressing (after

Breakfasting on coffee and corn flakes)

As warmly as our present selection of clothing allows before

Opening our apartment's front door while

Thoughts of making a snowman dance like

Sugar plums through our heads

And guess what Will and I find when we

Walk out onto our third floor landing?

We find our next door neighbors, Jack and Jill

(Who, being newly weds, whose lives

Prove as busy as Will's and mine, had

Remained acquaintances of ours ever since they'd

Moved in (three months after Will and I

Had married), right after he and she

Had walked down the aisle)

And like a quartet of children, set free of

All reason to act like responsible adults, we four

Newlyweds can be seen flying down those

Three flights of stairs in playful anticipation of

Building a snowman for the first time in

Many years, and guess what else

Our eagerness to play, together, creates?

A friendship, which has reason to bond more

Quickly than any of us can believe ...

And while building our snowman to

Stand so tall as to brave today's continuing

Downpour of snow, the blizzard of '67' is

No longer empowered to damped

Our spirits or attitudes even one tiny bit—

Not even when a snowball fight turns into

A tag-team wrestling match that ensues until

Our water-logged outerwear has chilled us to

The bone, causing our teeth to chatter, though

Today, unlike yesterday, we

Couldn't care less about physical discomforts as

All four of us, shivering our way back up those

Three full flights of stairs, flood the

Towering hallway that rises straight up above

Us with gales of echoing laughter, while our

Tummies growl with hunger, just as had

Been true of Goldilocks and the three bears, so

Next thing you know, we're standing on our

Third floor landing, Deciding that after

Each of us has changed layers of soggy garments for

Clothes, which prove warm and dry, we'll pool our food

And enjoy lunch and dinner, together, for

The very first time, and having spent that

Fun-filled day, followed by a warm, cozy evening

Getting to know each other, it comes time to

Watch the nightly news, which

As you can imagine, peaks our interest to no end

And so, we choose to separate just long enough to

Change, once again, this time into 'comfies', suggesting

Readiness for bed, and as I observe

My husband—seemingly feeling free of stress, which

Under normal circumstances refuses to relent enough to

Offer his mind down time to relax inner tension, born

Of Will's drive to become as knowledgable a doctor

As possible before his graduation from med school in May

And having recaptured a glimpse of my boyfriend, whose

Proposal of marriage had been eagerly accepted

I can't help but hope that I'll be sleeping with

High spirited Will, who had won my heart, rather than

The exhausted version of the hard working young man, with

Whom I'd lived for close to a year—

And thus—rather than slipping into 'comfies'—it is

My choice to adorn myself, as quickly as possible, with that

Leopardskin, which lays in wait for any moment that

Offers me the chance to re-ignite Will's pilot light  ...

And as we'd no place in our empty apartment to

Entertain our guests while watching the news on our 19 inch

Black and white TV other than our

King sized mattress, which pretty much covers

Our bedroom floor, now you know why

Jay and The Leopard Lady were seen sharing a bed

(Alongside Will and Jill)

On the very night that our brand new friendship had

Spent the day frolicking away, feeling

As free from toil, which had normally felt

So important as to make us forget how

Joyfully our spirits had danced around in

A Winter wonderland when we were ten while

The unrelenting reality of blizzard-like conditions had

Continued to plague those, who, for reasons, as yet

Unknown to us, had proved much less fortunate than

That which had been true for

Will and Annie and Jack and Jill, whose budding friendship will

Continue to have reason to flourish, not just over next few days, but

As you shall see ... as time goes on ...  and BTW ...

You might like to know that two statements fed my hungry comment box at the end of post 1375

1375 INTRO TO MY INEXPERIENCED ADVENTURES INTO PARENTING Part 10

1967

If memory serves me, I felt like a lucky duck, thawing out

At home by about 4PM—though

That did not prove true for Will, who

Did not set foot in our apartment until the dark of night

Even so, my husband felt fortunate to arrive home in time to

Sleep in his own bed‚which had not proved true

For several of his friends, also

Fourth year med students, who'd not been able to

Leave the hospital (a forty minute drive away)

In time to dig their parked cars out of snow drifts, piled 'sky' high

By sunset, which comes early in January

The depth of the snow caused all modes of transportation to

Come to a stand still! so several of Will''s friends

Found themselves stuck at the hospital, sleeping

On cots, over the next four nights ...

Why?  Because state-wide paralysis suggests the

Impossibility of anyone in the hospital hierarchy

Coming or going, Creating the necessity for

Docs, nurses and fourth year med students

To experience an exhausting four day shift with

Little time to sleep and no source of relief in

Sight for 96 hours, straight

Though No freeways had been taken on my way home

That had not been true of Will, and since he'd left the hospital

Hours after I'd left my suburban school behind (without

Taking so much as a backward glance to see

My source of employment swallowed up by drifts of swirling snow)

Will witnessed that which I'd listened to on the news:

Accidents, creating pile ups as vehicles, skating

Across streets, slick with ice, kissed other vehicles, which

Had not felt romantically inclined, causing tempers to flare

And as streets, freeways and lane markers had

Disappeared under layers of unplowed snow

Driving through the blizzard had become a free-for-all with

Bumper-to-bumper traffic jams backed up for miles, first

Here, then there, then everywhere, eventually offering

Motorists, throughout our ghost white city

Access to go nowhere, at all; in fact

Will witnessed sights that blew his mind during

His four and a half hour commute to get home

For example, I remember my husband looking

Half shocked-half amused while describing

The frustration of motorists, who'd

Actually abandoned their vehicles by

Plowed their cars into snow banks, which

Meant they stayed put over the next several days until

Snow plows, which proved in short supply, managed to dig

The city's major thoroughfares out from under God's avalanche ...

Then, as hours continued to  pass and cars began to stall

The freeway saw more people stomping

Through snow drifts than those, whose engines had

Continued to huff and puff, like the little engine that could

And as my husband's internal engine felt determined to

Drive all the way home, thankfully

Will was, somehow, able to maneuver our white, stripped

Chevy II around one hurtle after another, like a slalom skier

Until he and his trusty steed skidded to a stop about

A block away from our apartment complex due to the fact that

Abandoned cars had been scattered across the roadway, because

By this time in the day

The relentless howling of fiercely blowing wind had

Created snow drifts of such mega proportions that Will's view of

Where to go from this point on proves non-existent, and

Finding no place to park, he, too, chooses to plow our Chevy

Into a snow bank that shows itself to rise as high as

My husband's eyes, suggesting that upon

Opening his door, standing up and looking at

Our white Chevy II, camouflaged within

Its igloo of snow, Will hopes to be able

To find it and dig it out, tomorrow, after

Abandoning it, tonight, because his

Tired mind has no clue that

Our Chevy II will remained buried in

It's igloo over the next four days and nights until

The city's inadequate army of snow plows

Had completed the Herculean task of

Clearing major thoroughfares, strewn with

Abandoned autos, trucks and buses, before

Turning its attention toward venturing into

Residential neighborhoods, such as ours, and so

When it came to pass that Will, The Human Icicle, who

Had managed to maneuver our car through ice, sleet and snow for

Close to five hours, finds himself stomping through

Huge piles of swirling snow drifts as he must

Make his way through that last stormy block before

Climbing three stories up to our apartment

I—listening, hopefully (no cell phones, back then) for

His key to turn in the lock of our front door—ran to

Embrace my husband, feeling giddy with relief—and

Like everyone else who'd barely made it home before gridlock had

Swept our entire corner of the world into the twilight zone

Will and I feel immensely fortunate to thaw out under a

Royal blue, velvet comforter, upon which his mother had had

Our first names engraved, while we take turns detailing

Our day for each other until he and then I drift off to sleep between

Crisp, clean sheets, tucked neatly around our king sized mattress, which

Covers most of our bedroom floor, and with

The warmth of good fortune flowing peacefully through our veins

Bride and groom sleep contentedly,  feeling safe and sound, as do

Millions upon millions, who, populating our Midwestern state, entertain

No more clue of the surprising events, some happy, some not, that lay in wait to

Astound Will's senses and mine, over the next several days ...

1374 MIDWESTERN BLIZZARD OF 1967 HITS INDIANA AND ILLINOIS HARDEST

This video can be seen posted on uTube

Published on Jan 26, 2013 by Steve Grzanich:

"On January 26, 1967, Chicago's worst snowstorm, ever, dumped 23 inches and left 4-6 foot snow drifts. When the snow finally stopped on January 27, 60 people had been killed and the city was paralyzed. Amazingly, just two days before the blizzard, the high temperature hit 65 degrees in Chicago."

One comment said:
"OMG, I lived through this.  Took 7-1/2 hours to get home on the Diversey Bus and then I had to walk the rest of the way to Belmont and California in 5 foot snowdrifts.  I really thought I was going to die that night.  Anyone who lived thru this will NEVER forget it."

2015
Though in recent years
Blizzards have matched or exceeded 'THE BIG SNOW OF 67'
At that time, THE BIG SNOW had broken
All existing records in the Midwest
And as a snowfall of such record breaking proportions had
Been unknown to this part of the country
Our major metropolis had 'Failed To Prepare', and
Being unprepared to remove snow, which had
Swirled into drifts so high as to bury cars right up to
The tops of their roofs, streets were bare of all traffic except for
Snow plows, of which there were too few
In fact, memories of our flash-frozen populous experiencing
City-wide paralysis before Will served his hitch in
The Air Force had, most likely, inspired
Our eventual move to the desert to feel utterly sane ...

1967
When considering the fact that my two hour trek to get to school (which
Had not offer me even one chance to sit down) made me feel like
A popsicle, walking woodenly on two frozen sticks, you can see why
My transport home from school had unquestionably changed for the better
On the other hand—
Our drive from the suburbs to my 3rd floor, walk-up apartment in the city
(Which normally took half an hour) proved as long and treacherous
As had my morning experience, battling the elements, because
The winter storm had worsened, hour by hour, and
As the day progressed, swirling winds
Had caused snow, falling heavily, to layer up into frosty drifts, which
Rose higher than crisp, white sheets, pulled taut on hospital beds, suggesting that
During this whiteout, the angel at the wheel could see
Pretty much nothing beyond her window shield, which
Points to why her foot rode the brake much more often than
She'd gingerly tapped at the gas as had proved true of
Every driver maneuvering throughout our city, its
Surrounding suburbs, and past county boundaries into
Adjacent states, as well

In addition to the fact that vehicles, large and small, inched forward
Bumper to bumper, the slickness of the pavement on
Major thoroughfares, freeways and interstate highways saw
Cars, trucks and buses skidding, this way and that, as
Everyone on the road couldn't help but drive blind as bats, which is why
Thousands of people in Indiana and Illinois decided to
Abandon their vehicles in the middle of the street, choosing to
Trudge miles on foot, through towering snow drifts, in hopes of
Getting home, safe and sound, before dark—Thankfully
The abandonment of vehicles would not begin to take place until
Much later in the day rather than at the time when, fortunately
Our school district had had the foresight to
Dismiss school, early, right after lunch

As my savior's vehicle continued creeping forward
We got to feeling as if our entire metropolis had been
Swept into the twilight zone where
We'd felt compelled to maneuver our way through
A surrealistic crash-up derby, which
Threatened our sense of personal safety over
The next interminable two hours ... And though
I'd felt relieved not to be a Popsicle, awaiting buses and
Trains, which often times, failed to appear ...
I'd also felt plagued with anxiety, based
In guilt, each time thoughts of this angel's need to
Trek home, navigating her chilly way on her own, after
She'd freely gone out of her way to drop me at
My warm and cozy apartment's front door ...

Upon reflection, clarity suggests that
Anyone who thinks life is meant to be lived
Free of self imposed guilt, which gives rise to
Inner conflict that drives us crazy, is literally
Out to lunch with an empty paper bag in hand, because
That insight is based in this deeper truth:
Peace of mind is nourished by learning to identify
Those times when undeserved guilt has imprisoned
The problem solving portion of your mind, making
Brainstorming toward a workable solution
Feel impossible until time spent in objective reflection frees
The solution-seeker within your brain and mine to
Quest toward a plan that proves so logically effective as to
Consider everyone's needs, including heartfelt needs that
Prove to be our own, most especially when
The conflict in need of resolution proves exceedingly convoluted
And thus, when inner conflict, which remains unresolved, grows
So complex as to boggle my brain, that's expressly when
The concept of 'Never-give-up-on-achieving-a-heartfelt-goal'
Directs my think tank to take a break before
Brainstorming toward considering possible solutions, again
You see, no one can make me feel guilty unless I agree; however
I've come to see that no one heaps undeserved guilt
On my head as readily, heavily and unnecessarily as me ...
And just as I'd unknowingly guilted myself at the age of three
And eleven and twenty-three, I've continued to
Condemn myself with undeserved guilt
Unknowingly , until recently, when EMDR therapy
Enabled me to see my need to create a new pathway for neurons to travel that
Proves so well balanced as to detour my conscious mind away from
The subconscious pathway, which would have condemned me to carry
The burden of undeserved guilt, left unresolved during childhood
To my grave, because it has been proven that
Unexpected eruptions of yesteryear's PTSD often make us feel
Terribly guilty of acting wrongly when
Insight into deeper truth suggests the time is ripe to
Identify the subconscious, UNDESERVED fear of wrong doing that has
Haunted our sense of well being since childhood

And  now that today's post feels like it's pulling into
A nice, warm, cozy station, where you can
Chew on food for thought, meant to
Nourish a really good person's peace of mind 
I'll end by thanking the universal spirit for
Directing my intuition to grow attentive to
Those times when divine inspiration
Swoops down from on high, inspiring my inquisitive mind to
Quest ever more deeply into self discovery, beginning
When my first born son, Barry, who was so winsome from the
Moment of his birth as to completely capture my heart—declare
His existential young self, loudly, clearly and uniquely
Separate from me—as early as two years old!

As life proves to be an on-going odyssey, where
Change gives birth to one inner conflict after another
My choice to open my mind (in hopes of
Broadening my perspective) offers me cause to
Rethink my decisions and thus, when you hear me say:
My first thought is not necessarily my best thought—
I am suggesting that insightful awareness offers me reason
To embrace objective reflection until
My addiction to personal growth offers my inner tension
Reason to lessen and as tension relaxes allowing
My think tank to expand, reason to
Change my mind about self imposed guilt comes clearly into view
And as the haunting nature of undeserved guilt lessens
My lost sense of peace of mind reappears
And with peace of mind restored I can figure out how to achieve
Heartfelt goals, which had felt impossible, before ... and now
If you've managed to puzzle your way, successfully, through
The last half of today's post, then let's tackle
'Who's On First?' next, because
We who can laugh at ourselves, laugh best—
And laughter continues to be the best medicine, I know—
Most especially when reality points to the fact that
At every stage of life, change creates conflict, which is why
Peace of mind proves tough to hang onto, indefinitely ...

1373 INTRO TO MY INEXPERIENCED ADVENTURES INTO PARENTING Part 8

1967
Once my mini coat is buttoned
I can be seen standing beside my desk
Pulling my hat and gloves out of my pockets in readiness to
Brave the storm when my sixth sense

Alerts me to look up, and
I'm surprised to see a pair of gossamer wings fluttering
Neath an incandescent halo as an angelic smile pops through
The open doorway leading into my classroom ...
Though I can't remember my savior's name or visualize her face
There's no doubt that this angel was heaven sent to
Save me from death by freezing
You see, my savior, another fifth grade teacher, had listened to my
Lamentations, concerning my valiant battle with
The elements during my early morning commute to school, and
Thank goodness I'd chosen to open up to this kindred soul, because
While readying herself to drive home
Her thoughts turned toward that which would surely have been
The next grueling chapter in my odyssey, and
As her compassionate thoughts created a halo effect
My savior winged her way straight toward my classroom, where
She graciously offered to go out of her way to
Provide a co-worker safe passage home

And though while writing, today, in the heat of

The desert's dry-as-toast summer afternoon
(No wonder why the brutal sun cannot faze me, at all!)
I can't recall who this kindred spirit was—I can tell you this:
My entire being floods with emotional warmth each time

My savior's compassionate heart comes to mind
And now that I think about it ...
If that trait proves to be the only legacy by which
I'm fondly remembered, my soul will dwell in a place
Blessed with inner peace, forever

However—one deeper truth doth not cancel out another
Suggesting that in addition to absorbing the importance of
Do un for others, experience has offered me
Sound reason to have developed
A healthy respect for this life's lesson, as well:
I'll not re-experience the futility of
Exhausting my spirit by dismissing my needs, thus
Stretching blindly toward sainthood while
Both of my feet are still planted
Upon the grass rather than six feet under it ... bringing
This insight to mind, yet again
A life well lived learns how to accommodate for balance in all things ...