It had taken a year and a half to assemble my husband’s Christmas present to me, a two-person swing just long enough for me to lie in curled. The swing had an adjustable canopy that could be angled back to invite more of the sky in. On the… Read full post »

I submerge into the hot bath of healing epsom salts that make my pores open in a welcome Ahhhh... a momentary silence of exquisite surrender.

Feelings seize the opportunity of the gap. And I am crying, crying, crying. There are no tears. It… Read full post »

Yesterday Sally Swift marked her birthday by sharing ten things about herself in a meme and inviting the rest of us on OS to do the same. Easy to understand why Sally is infinitely likeable; she gives others a gift on HER birthday; an invitation to look into her world and… Read full post »

This is the sound of the voice I did not have back then, at the height of my suffering. Either because I literally had no voice (disabled by a tracheostomy), or because I had no power to speak up for myself in the vulnerability of my situation. This is… Read full post »

Stepped out of the house, out of its cool shadow and into the bright sunshine. Up the two concrete steps to carry out the errand I have since forgotten about, remembering the sunshine warm on my skin, bright in my eyes, making the just past ripeness of early autumn lushness move… Read full post »

The bar of soap slipped out of my wet hand, the 3 glasses of wine I had just consumed compounding my poor grasp with compromised focus. “Damn” I thought with exhaustion, “now I have the work of summoning all my concentration for the challenging task of picking it up”. At least… Read full post »

I don't know when the words will come. I am like a mistress at the mercy of their whim. They want the best cuts of the meat of my time, relegating all else to the left overs of my energy. And when they don't show up I wait. I'm spending a… Read full post »

Emerald Hill was exactly how it was in the youth of my tropical Singapore childhood, before it got swanked up for the rich and prices raised way beyond what an average Singaporean could ever earn in several lifetimes. It looked as it did when the residents were average people, ambling along… Read full post »

It's been more then 6 months since my last post, much more time away from OS now then I have had with it. As a writer that is, but not as a delighted, entertained, sympathetic and admiring reader of the huge degree of talent and honesty that is represented here. It… Read full post »

Clinging,

To a leaf's tip,

The heavy drop of dew

Cannot resist gravity's pull

To fate.

copyright 2010 Maria Heng Read full post »

Two hearts sparking life into secret being,
held close in the softness of love.
Bathed in the gifting of joy, 
A pure light that form could not hold,
ascending straight into the heavens.

And a mother weeps for the love
that can only be/… Read full post »

Those who do not learn from their own histories

are doomed to repeat them

in increasingly murky depths of delusion

and call this 

the air

of the breath of life

exclaiming "inhale"

for company and solace in what they will not see.

Fred Hallman, thank you for PMing… Read full post »

Today the Arlington Fire District celebrates its 20th year of Advanced Life Support services. Firemen are crossed trained as paramedics and ambulances are specially equipped to allow for a greater range of time critical and life saving medical procedures. The firemen in Arlington District, Poughkeeps… Read full post »

This is my 'feeling photograph' - my greedy to hold on to all the details that I felt most through a wonderful experience shared by lovely people. And so it's self-indulgently long.  A legend has been included for bullseyeing to spare busy readers from the whole thing.

Description of people… Read full post »

The dreaded moment was coming. I had planned for this. All I had to do was get to the underground bunker that would keep me safe. Even though I'd never entered it I knew how to get there, knew the door that opened to the descent toward its safety. I just… Read full post »

Yesterday was unreal. My first post, the one I wrote to carry a gift that I was too shy to share, made Editors pick. Thank you Greg, for persuading me to venture forth. Thank you, Deborah, for the response you gave that made me persuadable. Even more unreal were the applauding,… Read full post »

We arrive at a large resort. It is casually elegant with relaxed rustic touches, spacious. The atmosphere is dry and cool. I am un-partnered but in the comfortable company of my spiritual journey fellow Mark P, and so I assume Jodi is with us as well. The day is sunny and… Read full post »