“Perhaps grief is not about empty, but full. The full breath of life that includes death. The completeness, the cycles, the depth, the richness, the process, the continuity and the treasure of the moment that is gone the second you are aware of it.”
—Alysia Reiner
As I was working in my yard yesterday, I was struck by a metaphor. Weeds had taken over a neglected area in the back of the yard. With all the recent rainfall and the long summer days, they had spread rapidly, filling in every inch of open space around flowers and bushes. I knew if I didn’t remove them, they would rob the good plants of all the nutrients and sunlight, eventually choking them out.
“I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.”
—Brene Brown
Now that I’m back at work post-maternity-leave, well-meaning friends, family members, and colleagues ask me how it’s going, often with a look of sympathy in their eyes. I think some of them expect me to say I’m exhausted or I wish I could stay at home. Several have voiced their assumptions in the form of questions: It’s tough, isn’t it? Don’t you just want to cry when you get those texts with pictures of your little one?
“Without experimentation, a willingness to ask questions and try new things, we shall surely become static, repetitive, and moribund.”
—Anthony Bourdain
