“Poignancy. As the last butterscotch sunbeams of summer light pass across the grass, stand in awe…to capture the radiance and hold it inside you.”

— Kristi Nelson, Wake Up Grateful

Dear Subscriber First Name,

Although I’m not going back to school this week, many of my beloveds are. Teachers, staff, and students everywhere and of all ages are marking the beginning of a new school year. And even though I am not physically going back to school alongside them, some big part of me is; in all of my cells I can still feel the “scurry” and the school bell calling. Can you?

It is amazing to me how much staying power certain seasons and their junctures hold in my body and mind. How vivid the recall is. How - if I close my eyes - the quality of the air makes me feel like it was just yesterday that I was in my homemade plaid dress and new haircut, carrying my unadulterated notebooks and myriad insecurities of early adolescence. The sounds of school bus doors closing, the chatter of girls in cliques, the din of the lunchroom, the piercing silence of test-taking. It’s all imprinted in visceral, sensory ways that I am so glad I can still pull from my memory-bank, over fifty grateful years later.

Whether you or your loved ones are already back at school or still preparing for re-entry, or whether - like me - you are on the sidelines simply noticing the heft of this season of transition, I invite you to join me in making every effort to also remember that we still have about 36,000 minutes left of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. That’s more than 2,000,000 moments of summer left to notice, savor, and store up. Millions of moments to be present and make meaningful memories to fill your summer heart-bank…and the heart-banks of others as well.

Happy end-of-August. And, yes, it’s still summer. Though, if you’ve been in any stores lately, you may have noticed that Halloween is already raising its ghoulish head. Thanksgiving isn’t far behind. And after that…well, you know. It’s all an attempt to pull us out of the present moment and into the feeling that what’s coming in the future always has us already behind.

Please join me in “super-soaking” the gift of life today. Pause. Take a breath. Let yourself be present for the precious moments that are here, now.

May the resources below and on my website support you to be available for the millions of miraculous moments that make up your life.

From my heart-bank to yours -

Grateful for Getting Older

a short reflection on the privilege of aging

“…One of my favorite cards has the quote, ‘Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most, live the longest.’ What a great reminder to celebrate whatever we can…and take nothing for granted.”

Temple

a tender poem about the body
by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

“O body, cracked bell
that still sings when struck,
O leaky cup,
O broken stem…”

“And I said to my body, softly,
‘I want to be your friend.’
It took a long breath. And replied,
‘I have been waiting my whole life for this.’”

— Nayyirah Waheed

Quote from Wake Up Grateful