April Love prompt, “five years ago”: Sam was just a baby, five months old. He’d only been with us for two months. We thought we had so much time, but just two short years later we discovered Dexter’s cancer, learned it was terminal and there was nothing we could do about it. The year he had left together was a miracle compared to the two weeks – two months we’d been told we had, but it didn’t make losing him any easier. At least it gave him enough time to teach Sam to be so sweet.

April Moon prompt, “whenever thunder grumbles overhead, I think of”: that first summer living in Fort Collins, in the basement on Locust street where the back door was our front door and I planted a tiny flower garden next to the concrete step that was our front porch. Every afternoon around 2 pm, the sky would turn dark, the air hot and heavy, and the thunder would start to roll. Soon after, the sky would open up and it would pour down rain, soaking the ground. The temperature would drop 5-10 degrees in half an hour. Then, almost as fast as it started, the rain would stop and the sky would clear, done for the day.

I also think of how afraid Obi was of storms, how he could sense them coming an hour before they’d start and he’d glue himself to me until it was over, shivering and shaking so bad that sometimes his teeth would chatter, how it made me hate the summer storms that had always been such a relief, how hard I wished them away now that they caused discomfort to one I loved so much.

April Love prompt: “from where I stand”: I can see what is possible, and the path to get there is clear (mostly). What is essential is the quiet, allowing stillness and space, and also patience, allowing it to come in its own time and its own way. I can help it by surrendering, letting go, relaxing into things as they are, showing up with my open heart. The magic is real. Magic is awareness, which is simply curiosity and connection, being present. It’s what Lodro Rinzler described as “tuning into our world without trying to change it.” If I show up with an open heart and without an agenda, I will know the truth, and I will know what to do. I will be able to “hear her breathing.”

April Moon prompt: “one of my greatest sources of inspiration has always been”: Books. And as technology changes, presents more and more opportunities to access content, I have to modify that to something bigger and say reading. And yet, it’s even more than just books or reading — it’s connecting with ideas and stories and people, it’s touching what it means to be human. I am inspired by other humans willing to be vulnerable and raw, to take a risk and tell the truth.