I bought myself a journal a few weeks ago that says on the cover, "Do what you love." I use it to take notes each day at work. And that message --"Do what you love"--has been a good reminder to me-- to appreciate the meaningful work I get to do each day, and also to stop and do something for myself now and then.I've even written a few poems (writing gives me such a happiness boost!) in my little journal, in the wee hours of the night when I'm finishing up with work. It's funny--this one tiny "splurge" on a $6 journal for myself has really brought me happiness--both by helping me feel grateful in the moment and by encouraging me to write more. Here's a poem I wrote this week called, "On Family."
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On Family
My mother saves pictures of us
off of Facebook
and onto her phone.
She likes to look at our recent faces
as she waits on a prescription.
Love across the miles is hard.
I, too, collect tiny bits of family connection.
I listen, alone on my commute,
to songs my family once sang on car trips.
I frame bits of lace
made by a great grandmother
and hang them on the wall.
I point out to my husband,
at a school play,
how my daughter's jaw, eyes,
are so like my sister,
and smile.
I stand at the kitchen counter
and rub a well-worn cookie recipe
in my mother's handwriting,
lovingly,
as if it were her own dear cheek.
We are a tribe fractured.
Hunting and gathering remnants,
glimpses,
of a life we meant to have together.
----
Do you regularly get to "Do what you love?" And if not, how can you work toward that bit by bit?
