PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

I’m grateful for the memories created when I’m waking on my own

but any memory I make then…is mine…and mine alone…

I much prefer the memories I make…the beauty that I see

when I find myself out walking with my friends and family

Because with my friends and family by my side…

any memory we make…is quickly multiplied. 

May we be blessed as we go through life…

To collect a lot of mementos and photographs…

of things and moments that brought us joy 

that made us smile and laugh.

To keep this items close at hand…

these moments in time with friends and family…

so when we grow older all we need do is visit them

to awaken a memory.

We have this weathered old steamer trunk…it’s been with Deborah and me

for as long as I can remember…since we became a family. 

Since that moment all those years ago…for some reason we have sunk

mementos of things we want to remember into that old steamer trunk.

From today traveling backwards to our grandchildren, our children,

to the moment we became husband and wife…

It is filled with a cornucopia of memorabilia…

A loosely layered mixed-up roadmap of our life.

Over the years so many mementos and keepsakes we have laid in there to rest

that somewhere along the way that old steamer trunk became a treasure chest.

We had a few items we wanted to put in our treasure chest 

this summer we picked up overseas

and when I opened it I was immediately hit with the aroma of memories.

I sat there for a while…dipping into memories…reminiscing…having fun

because it’s like after I’m hit with the aroma of Deborah’s cookies…

it’s hard to stop at one.

When it was time to leave our treasure chest of memories…I admit it was hard to stop

but I took the ones from this trip and set them gently on the top.

It’s getting harder and harder to close our treasure chest of all the memories we share

because with each new memory we add…there’s not much room in there.

But after adding the latest memories…one of the things about this treasure chest I most adore…

is, even after a lifetime of memories made together…there is always room for more.

I’m grateful we have memoires…

that our minds with memories are rife…

because I love the way our memories

tell the story of our life

May we be blessed to understand how old memories can make us smile…

as they allow us to turn back the clock

And pause in a moment of time…

if only for a little while.

I’m not only grateful today

but I’ve been forever pleased

That my dreams have been the source 

of so many of my memories

When what’s happening in our country and the world gets me down

When I don’t know where the sad news will come from next…or when…

I look to my family and nature to help lift me up again.

Last night as I sat in a rocking chair on the porch of our cabin in the trees

and again this morning to life me up…I dipped into my memories.

With our family grown and scattered we’re not making as many new memories any more

but here in the mountains looking out at nature I allow my old memories to soar. 

Last night I sat watching fireflies as they twinkled all around…

It was as if stars were shooting before us just above the ground.

And I remembered a time, not so long ago, when our children with wide eyes

would be laughing and running around the yard…chasing fireflies.

They chased so many fireflies until they came to understand…

If they only waited long enough one would alight upon their hands.

This morning as the fog eased in over the mountains…there was no morning breeze

so that fog with no where else to go…stayed nestled in the trees

I thought of a time not so long ago…we were driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

when I closed my eyes I remembered it was a day just like today.

The fog rolled in that morning too…and I remember feeling joyful and proud…

when we told our children to open the windows of the car…so they could touch the clouds. 

Our world is not always a world of happiness…

and when there is so much sadness before my eyes

I find my happy place in memories…of our family, of fog and fireflies.

I’m blessed to have so many happy memories…

that anytime I want…I can enter my mind to see….

which makes me I wonder if the world would be as sad as it is…

If everyone had as many wonderful memories as me.

I’ve said this before (and I’ll likely say it again!) about our cabin in the trees…

How it’s not just a cabin…it’s a cabin filled with memories.

Memories…compiled from the time our children and grandchildren were small…

each memory plays a part in the magic painted on its walls.

And the way I feel about our cabin…I know I’m not alone

because everyone who’s ever visited…takes away memories of their own.

Some of our memories that surface when we reach the cabin…are of Deborah’s sister Pris… 

Her memories remind us of how much fun we had together…

and how much and often she is missed.

After her funeral in Florida years ago we escaped to our cabin

and that same evening a luna moth perched herself upon our door….

in all our years coming to the cabin…we’d never seen one there before.

When we saw the luna moth we immediately took her as a sign…

a message from Pris herself…that everything was fine.

The luna moth…was telling us…in a natural way so sweet…

that when it came to Pris from this world to the next…her transformation was complete.

Now when we visit the cabin…we’re never sure how or when…

Pris, in her luna moth form, will visit us again.

This morning on our porch I sat down to write a poem…

(after last nights rain the morning air was colder)

and as I was wondering what I was going to write…A luna moth landed on my shoulder.

I’m not great at understanding Luna moth speech…but near as I could tell

Pris wanted her family to know that she’s still doing well.

And she wanted her sister, her children, her grandchildren, 

and great-grandchildren to know…from wherever luna moths come from…

how proud she is of all of them…and the people they’ve become.

So perched upon my shoulder…in the early morning dawn

Pris helped me write this little poem…and when we finished…she was gone.

You may be wondering if these luna moths who visit at the cabin then depart…

are really Pris or just a little bit of wishful thinking on my part…

It could be this phenomenon is a lot like love…all in the eye of the beholder…

then again I think I’ll wait around and ask Pris…the next time she lands upon my shoulder.

When I see time moving ever forward…

and each day I grow a little oder than the day before…

I am grateful I have a way of looking back…

grateful knowing that’s what memories are for.