Such is Life

Life – Family – Relationships

Changes

Theirs – Moving forward

His- Stagnant

Hers- Ending

Theirs – Exciting

Hers – Adventurous

His – Struggling

Hers – Suffering

A cycle of plans, dreams, hopes, hopelessness, loss, opportunity, future, past

Youth, newlyweds, bachelors, middle aged couple, elderly woman

Change

Changing jobs, changing locations, sticking it out, sticking together, changing

Loss

Loss of health, mobility, power, choices

Grief, loss, joyous celebrations

Time

Mundane days, restless nights

nights filled with passion

days filled with tears

moments filled with laughter

Cycles

One turns into the other

What’s next is set in motion

Decisions, disagreements, consensus, conflict, forgiveness, best wishes, farewells, condolences

Life

Hard, challenging, rich, beautiful

Death

Real, crushing, freeing, liberating

Victory

I Saw Myself

I saw myself today

30 years ago a newlywed

In that cabin across the river

Where I sat for hours watching the currents sweep over the boulders

Time spent with my lover in solitude and adventure with dreams of the future and contented pleasure.

I saw myself today

20 years ago a mom of two hilarious children

Camped out on the floor in that cabin across the river

A family on vacation, swimming hole, and fishing poles

A walk to the gingerbread factory, the hat shop and the toy store ending with a German pretzel and dinner at the Baren Haus.

I saw myself today

In the present

Reflected in a store window

Shopping and thinking and exploring

Years of child-raising replaced by caring for my elderly mom

Picking wildflowers and pine cones and creating new things in my head

A time of respite and renewal, observing the changes that have taken place and those things that never change.

I saw myself today

20 years from now

Walking hand in hand with the same man I always loved

Coming to a light pole in the sidewalk with hands temporarily parting

Quickly rejoined to explore that same town we always have, getting bratwurst, walking to Blackbird Island, and talking about the years gone by

I saw myself today

30 years in the future

My white hair askew as a caregiver pushes me, donned in a royal purple bathrobe in a wheelchair down the Main Street

Past the horse and buggy, past the shops and restaurants

A pile of flowers and ornamental grasses on my lap gleaned from the passing displays and gardens

A smile on my face in memory of days gone by.

©Belindabotzong2018

Lovers in Watercolor 

Fingernail moon tinged in pink hangs high over the bay and bids the setting sun farewell. Heavy breezes lift and release splashing waves. Watercolor strokes paint billowing sails on a backdrop of blue hued islands etched into the horizon. 
Two gulls tango over deep slate colored tides rolling into the harbor. A red sailboat with crisp white sails turns back toward open water for one last roll in the waves.
Rose scented breezes blow over the park bench where two lovers lean shoulder to shoulder speaking softly of bittersweet things — past, present, future. 
A thousand times they have graced this spot to ponder, to plan, to work it out, to sit silently watching that ever present and familiar view but never growing weary of its sameness. Never growing weary of each other.
Content to love and be loved. Comfortable in the silence or the sounds. Holding hands and reminiscing. Thankful to live in such beauty and their precious peaceful glorious life. 

Passion

Passion – By Ella Higginson

Red, wet lips and passionate eyes
That would draw an angel down from the skies
Or those that would lift us up—they’re so true—
Now which would you choose if I were you?
Tender eyes and clinging hand,
And a soul that one never can understand
Or passionate eyes and red gold hair
I know not which one to choose, I swear.
When my blood is calm and my senses cool
I vow to myself that I’m a fool
To yearn for those scarlet lips, and yet
The pleasure they yield I cannot forget
When my blood is calm and my pulse beats slow,
I swear that never again will I go
Where those burning eyes and those bare, soft arms
Wait to allure me with their charms.
And I reach for a hand that is cool and pale,
The hand that was never known to fail
And I gently clasp and ardently kiss
The one who was meant for higher bliss.
But when my blood leaps like living flame
With the passion and madness that have no name,
When my being seems like a sea of fire,
That rises and surges higher and higher,
My whole soul turns to those passionate eyes,
For I know in them only temptation lies;
I fling myself into that mad caress,
And know nothing else, and care still less.