november 30

thirty days of posts. i have to admit that it was a struggle to post each day and i certainly didn't find what i shared to be inspiring...but at the same time, i am grateful to nablopomo for the push, the invitation, to seek out pieces of goodness from this month when i found myself mostly trying to get through each day.

but there is such goodness.

and i am resting inside the knowledge that love is what it really is all about. friendship, listening, opening, speaking truth, sharing pieces of who we are, finding our way. love.

i am so looking forward to december views. starting tomorrow, i will be staying behind the camera for most of next month. sharing words now and then. dipping my toes back into self-portrait challenge perhaps. capturing the views of this time of year. hoping for snow at some point. cleaning in anticipating guests around the holidays (and wishing for a cleaning fairy to come and help this nausea-focused girl). maybe finding myself in the kitchen making holiday cookies for the first time in years. and always resting inside love and hope.

thank you for you...

welcome

thank you for visiting my new little corner here in the blog world. i hope you will look around at all that i have gathered in this new space (just click on the tabs above the banner).

as i write this, i know it is going to take a bit of getting used to as a new home always does, but things are growing and shifting around here, and i am simply delighted by layout and extra room (a bit like beautiful walk-in closets) that squarespace has.

i hope you will stop by again this wednesday for some exciting news...news that you just might be able to figure out if you spend enough time peeking into the corners and cupboards of this new spot.

i am also continuing to tweak things here and there. i will add new items to my projects page soon and am developing my studio page with more peeks into the little room and the spots where i create and write...

also, some new collaborations are in the works...so stay tuned for those.

goodness, life is so good. yes. i am so very blessed.

much love,

liz

now.

playing with the lensbaby composer . pt defiance park . august 22, 2009
i get up.

i breathe in.

i breathe out.

i look myself in the eye.

i choose.

i begin.

yes.

i begin.

home.

lake michigan view (photo by jonny) . august 2009

as i settle slowly back into the routine that is my life, my heart feels somewhat heavy as i wrap my mind around being so far across the country from my family yet again. yet, this is home. here. in washington with the tall tall evergreens and the cool august air and the backyard lavender and the tender sighs of millie. this is home. and i know, in my heart, that this distance is what has invited our time to be sweeter and, perhaps, a bit more open and full of light.ness. yes, the time is indeed sweeter. time with my dad and anne was full of laughter and sunsets and good food and late night miniature golf. time with my mom was short...just a few hours...but we had a delightful brunch and did a bit of shopping, and even though she has been through a bit these last few weeks as she has been the caregiver to her significant other after his sudden heart surgery, she still seemed lighter than i have seen in her in a long time, which made my heart happy.

after we said goodbye to my dad and anne when they dropped us off where we were staying in chicago and then again the next day after we said goodbye to my mom in the middle of water tower place, i turned to jon and leaned again his chest and started crying as i found myself inside feelings that seemed like a mixing bowl full of nostalgia and missing. now, as i settle back in, i realize that what i felt toward the end of this trip that seemed like nostalgia was really love.

in this realization, i find myself standing here, in this spot, in this moment, and i take a breath and find my footing. and i see that i am twirling inside the laughter and the listening and the light and the love and the heart that is open in the midst of it all.

yes, this is me.

know.

south carolina coast long ago.

i want to know this person smiling right at me. i want to hear her laughter as she looks toward someone she loves who has managed to snap this moment of perfect joy.

i want to know her.
this is what i said each time we watched this and came to this photo.
i want to know her, i would say to jon.
and sometimes tears would knock at the back of my eyes as my mind would catch up with my words.

what is she thinking in this moment? who surrounds her? she is not quite two and on the south carolina coast. more than thirty years ago. thirty years. she did not know that more than three decades later she would wish that she had memorized every second of this moment. we never realize how much we will want to remember each sound, touch, breath.

i see hope and a heart open to all that is to come. i see love. i see a little girl who already knows love.

i want to know her.

she is a teacher this one. she is a teacher and those around her on this day know this truth. yes. they do know as they look at her wide open heart taking in each moment, each sound, each touch, each breath. in the quiet places where they are safe being themselves, they know she is here to teach them to open their hearts even if only for one breath. open up, she whispers as the wind blows and she smiles with love on her face.

i want to know her.

i want to reach my hand through this photo and touch that soft cheek and say, please tell me all you know. please tell me what it feels like to love with such a softness, with such hope.

i want to know her.

and the tears tap at the backs of my eyes as my mind catches up with the truth,

and the wisdom within whispers...