I Crossed an Ocean…

Cyndi Lauper sings words straight from my heart in her song “True Colors.” I have always seen things differently than most, and I wish you could see the world through my eyes…

“If this world makes you crazy
And you’ve taken all you can bear
You call me up
Because you know I’ll be there

And I see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that’s why I love you…”

C/F

Do you know what it means to love someone? It means you bring that person into “being.”

Love is what I want for me.

Love is what I give to you.

C/F

Tonight I am a million miles away, thinking of dreams that may never be…

C/F

I am exactly who I am today because my entire life has been immersed in and informed by diversity. I am unapologetically American in this regard. The sharing and understanding of our life experiences is what always enables us to rise from the ashes of that which has been burned by those who stain our society. I am confident that as a nation we will confront the inequities we inherited from yesterday, the challenges we face today, and the ones to come in the future.

And still my hope rises with the stars…

C/F

He sleeps within me
Hidden deep in my body
He’s in my lungs
He is my momentum
I walk each step of life silently
With my veins fiercely pumping my truth
His name on my tongue
His eyes drive me
Leading me to unknown skies

C/F

For all those that care for your country and your people, I know that you do so with your hands and your heart. You believe in the stories of your communities, the history of your land.

There is a picture you paint with your loving hands. I can hear your voice under the noise of the streets. I can feel something special, past all the fear of this pandemic. The picture helps me to believe in the future for us all.

With all that is happening, I know you are working to take care of all of us. Love knows no border.

The world is praying for your strength and courage. Do you hear us?

I would have listened with my heart
…And, spoke with my soul

Grazie…. what a blessed life I have to spend my 50th in Italy. I crossed an ocean (again) for me. 

When a song is not “just a song…”

Sometimes I’m sad
Yes, sometimes I’m angry
What can I do?
The only choice I have is to hold onto a memory
To remember the first time you looked at me
And you smiled

You smiled…       at me

It was in that moment
That my heart filled
It truly filled…      it filled

It’s that memory that keeps air in my lungs
And, sometimes tears in my eyes

It is all that I have of you

I Crossed An Ocean...         with love in my heart

C/F 

I’m on the cusp of turning 50, with a birthday in just over a week. I came home today excited to be going to Italy to spend my day with the people I love most in the world. Here’s to 50 years of being me.

Would I soften you for a moment
Would that moment define you
Define me
Follow the path I laid
Find me again
Cross an ocean to hold my hand
Hold me in your thoughts
Look in my eyes
There, you can see
Everything is true

To stand
In front of you
To look
Into your blue
Hold your hand
Touch your face
Know joy
Feel
Believe
Be

I look, but cannot find you
Not at the bottom of a glass
Or the base of a bottle
Not over the horizon
Nor with new lenses
I can’t fly to you
I can’t walk, or talk to you
I can’t hold you
You are gone

But, I see your smile
In the place
I promised you’d be
For all of my life

How you are, and always will be,
   Everything…

Today I give thanks…
HE knows my heart
HE knows my soul
Though my presence or words may be meaningless to some…
Forgetful
Worthless
HE knows they are all of me
My gold
My everything