Where do I start?

Where do I start? Do I start with the soft curls of this little one, damp on my chest as we read stacks of books after the bath? Do I start with the hilarious boy, turning into a man before my very eyes, teasing me for merely being his mother while tickling his baby sister and consuming every calorie on the premises? Or do I start with the quietness and fierce strength of my man, the one on earth who with me tasted death so closely, so sharply?

Do I write about the way the sun continues to rise, the friends who continue to love? The food that once again has flavor, the spiritual roots dug deeper? Do I write of the lifting of my head, or perhaps the way it dips from time to time, tears of sorrow mingling with the ones of mirth?

I don't know. I don't know where to start... But I do know this: it's good to be back, to be sharing in some life with you. It's a new day, it's a new space. I'm looking forward to the freedom to write and ruminate on whatever becomes us. But for today, meet Pheodora Sunshine. Her name is Greek for 'supreme gift', and she came at just the right time. She chases chickens, wears my jewelry, flies like a maniac on our rope swing, likes her nails polished, prefers chocolate in the morning, and says the exact perfect thing at just the right moment. Fifi whispers that we're mermaids together and annihilates every sea creature clinging to the reef for life at low tide.  She's absolute perfection and would have been the apple of Daisy's eye. Can't wait to introduce those two.

Photo Credit: Emily Turner