Another day in Paradise

San Diego Zoo

San Diego

Something's always happening at the Zoo...

Like The Bodeans

Thanks to Dave and Maggie for some great music

And good times!

Revisiting

Entering the room
The walls contract
Capturing me
Like a flower pressed
In pages.

Heart in throat
Trying to leap out
To touch the stories
Seated in the waiting room.

The buzz of voices
The silence of fear
Lips set in hard lines
Or forced smiles
Trying to be pleasant
And strong.

Two teams
The patients and the staff
The healthy and the injured
Red Rover Red Rover
Send the next one in.

There is a comfort in Deja Vu
I've been here before
I've walked these halls
I've sat in this little room
I survived it all.

The fear in the room is palpable
Like the charge before a storm
All cells alert
Listening for the rumble
Waiting for the crash
And the jump of alarm
Slowly calming as the nurse
Calls someone else's name.

They don't like to say you're cured
Until 5 years
Technically the term for this limbo
Is remission
But pressed on semantics
And based on all tests
The Doctor whispers
You're cancer free
Quietly, so as not to disturb
Any sleeping cells.

The animals were restless-
Los Lobos and Steve Earle

At the Zoo

Showboat's Vampires

Our Student's Lives

What happens at home
Outside our vision?
What happens to them
Before they even reach us?
What's on their minds
Besides division?
What can we say
To touch their world?
What can we do
But love them?

The push and pull

Of books and boxes

Like push ups on the side.

Strengthening my body now

To build my muscles

For Back to school. 

A Dark Knight
Sad morning
Words fail
When motives
Are beyond our ken.
No way to describe
the inner process
Of a mind in outrage,
The bodies torn
The hearts broken.
We are capable
Of so much more.

A beautiful night 

+Wonderful friends
+Orange Whip

=A fun Highland Fest

Reflecting on David Carr's
Night of the Gun

Inhale the experience
Cram in all the good stuff
And the garbage.
Fill up all the empty spaces
In your brain
Smothering the pain.
Tamp down the rising gorge
Till bursting like a balloon.
The exhale,
A rush of cool air
Puts out the fire
And cleanses the soul.

A year ago today...
Under the influence
Of Compazine
I remember bits and pieces.
The calm before the surgery,
The comfort of family and friends,
Waking wild,
Sleeping sound,
An angel at my side.

Back to school

Like a jigsaw puzzle
The pieces of the classroom
Interlock and fit together
To create
The scene on the cover
Of a tranquil/exciting
Calm/stimulating
Fen shui for learning.

Surf's up at the History Center's

"9 Nights of Music"

California dreamin'

Of our trip to San Diego

In the end of July!

Good thing they had a fire engine on hand 

For a hot day at 

The Aquatennial Milk Carton Boat Race.

Another hot day.
Cleansing sweat
Creating interesting patterns.
Skin warm and red,
Feeling like a ripe plum
Ready to burst.
Body conducting heat
Like electricity,
Grounding warm toes
In tennis.
A good day
For California Dreamin'.

Sharing the load

Sharing the food 

Looking forward to a much cooler day

To start school in September.

Lucky Friday the 13th

It's nice when a negative
Can be a positive.
Mammogram came back fine.
Gary's test was good.
A cancer free summer!

A roil in the stomach
That rolls up to your throat
Carrying along with it
All the worry and anxiety
Kept festering for a year.
Pounding through the bloodstream
Past the heart and missing breast
Bypassing the brain
and ending in a nail biting wait
for the first post treatment mammogram.

Neil Diamond

He certainly knows how to entertain a crowd.

Back to school in July

Back to our old building.
Back to basics
Moving boxes
Cleaning white boards
Walls and carpet.
Putting up bulletin boards
And pictures.
Getting ready
For back to school.

Me on stage at Como Pavilion

Symphony on stage at Como Pavilion

 View from Como Pavilion

A beautiful evening at Como Pavilion

I seemed to have tucked it away
Like a photo in a wallet
To be taken out and looked at furtively
To remind me how it was.
Like Gollum's ring
My precious pain
Beckons me back
To examine and question
To wonder and retell
To put it on again
And remember what it was like
A year ago.

A cool breeze
Cleaning the air
Leaving a pristine
Canvas on which
To write the day.

A Year Ago today...
A moment
Filled with 60 seconds
Of dread
Can seem longer
Than an hour.
A year's worth
Of worry and treatment
Pain and scars
Nausea and exhaustion
Can fit between
The second hands
In the moment
Before the phone rings.

A year ago today...
Fresh off fireworks
And the fourth of July
A routine mammogram
Revealed tiny cells exploding
In the red white and blue
Of my right breast.
Causing cascades and ripples
Like the chrysanthemum displays
Of the day before
But much less pretty
And much more dangerous.
Fortunately, after surgery
And dousing it with radiation
The cancer was defused
And I was able to celebrate
Another year of independence.

Independence Day

Free from fear
Full of hope.
Lessons learned
From history-
Making part of
My story.
Each person
Like stars
On the flag,
Leaving their impression.
Shining lights
Against a dark night.

Waiting again
In a Doctor's office-
Same warm wood
To cozy up
The bland neutral
And strategically placed chairs.
Same polite
Smiling personnel
Like wait staff
At a restaurant,
"I'll be your server today
Please put on this gown."
Same false front
to hide the fear
And danger inherent
In a place
Of such impossible possibilities.
Same tightly held hope
That Gary passes his test.

Why is our vanity
So wrapped up in our hair?
When I lost it
I felt powerless
Like Samson.
When I got my chemo curls
I felt like a clown
Not quite myself.
With my new haircut
I'm getting back to having
Regular bad hair days.

Got it made in the shade