For you, and for the lifetimes you’ve lived in one short year:
For the digging and the smoothing and the planting
For placing herbs long grown in pots into their new home
For maintaining your own sanity amidst so much change
For taking on what you said you'd never do
For being love first
For learning you can do things you never thought you could
For finding the will to step beyond the wall
For surrendering to life and taking one day at a time
For putting love and care ahead of your own agenda
For walking beside one who is dying - caring, carrying, loving
For walking beside one who is stretching into adulthood - nurturing, coaxing, pushing when necessary
For letting go of your own agenda
For finding Spirit in the midst of the ache and the pain
For exploring the edges of your known self, shining the light on old beliefs
For creating a place of beauty and strength from the old home
For taking bits of time to simply be in nature, feeling into immense peace underneath it all
For falling, failing and standing again, learning to be better
For all of this I honor you, the year you have lived and the one you are about to begin.