Are You OK?

 

Just listen.

 

And if you've already heard it

 

listen again.

 

Are you OK?

 

                                             Do you have a faith

that will help you 

 

sing

"The Keep Going On Song?"

 

If you don't

 

that's OK.

 

Just keep going until

 

you find it.

 

 

Listen quietly to the softness of your

 

life

 

 

pick up the spills

 

 

 

and watch yourself change

into 

 

a new creation that 

 

you never expected you'd be.

 

 

It takes faith to even

 

hope 

it takes hope to even

 

believe

that you are loved

 

beyond your own understanding.

 

 

Keep going.

 

Twelve Years Ago

I published my first blog post

and 

the content was based

on 

what I knew and loved best:

My home.

In the last 12 years

I opened my garden gate and explored 

various paths other than home décor

that led me to 

YOU.

Many of my readers inspired me, encouraged me

and they changed my life.

I took a year off from my teaching job

to open an Etsy shoppe.

I took writing classes that ignited a love for

poetry.

I have been gifted fine photography equipment

to launch off my idea to compose

a written and visual collection of memoirs

and 

my dreams continue to expand
as

I've shared my photos on

Instagram

for the past five years.

But on this first day of a new decade

I return home

for 

just a moment

to not only share a photo gallery of progress

but 

to celebrate the child-like happiness

my husband and I share

as we build our life together. 

Kitchen 1997

Same kitchen corner transformed in 2000

 

Kitchen hood redone beams installed 2019

Timbering installed 2019

Hallway/kitchen pantry 1997

Hallway/kitchen pantry with timbering 2019

Front room 1997

Opening the wall off of living room 2000

Creation of my studio space off of living room circa 2003

Studio space December 2019

Living room 2019

Studio space fall 2019

As I look at the things

we 

were able to achieve

I am in constant awe

to think that one day

It will be revealed just how much

my soul 

has been salvaged and transformed.

Happy 2020

 

In April

I'm learning

how to garden again.

While listening to one of my students

read his personal memoir draft


the 

teaching experience quickly

reversed roles.

Suddenly

I was looking at 

a newly blossomed  bouquet

emerge on its own

while 

I merely stood in the background.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

In April

I'm learning once again

that 

You can't force

a tiny seed to grow

in the soils of the growing field.

You feed it.

You allow it 

the space of light

then before you know it

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

rose petals 

fall from the sky.

Away

I am October

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

and I whisper tails of light

in

the wind. 

 

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

 You will hear me weep

and

you will hear me 

roar.

Then, I will spread gems

of ruby red

and

burnished gold

for you to

behold

but for only 

an instant

until I come again

and 

sweep us both 

away.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

Remembering

Solitude 

does not mean

you are 

alone.

anita pelayo rivera les dames d'abord

I actually crave 

the empty chamber

of 

my mind where

people dear to me

come back over and over

through the rhythm 

of 

a piece of music

from behind 

the pages of a small story

written

or  

in between the intricate weaving 

of 

ordinary materials

shaped into art.

I've got a four-day weekend 

to 

sit down 

and remember all of you.