All posts tagged children

Irreplaceable

April 11, 2021

As I write these words, these thoughts,
I remain hopeful…and optimistic.
Despite our continuous condition.
And the spite of every statistic.

Irreplaceable

The intruder erupts, and disrupts
Our life’s work, and our sensibilities
Under relentless daily attack
We protect, and we wait, and we adapt
Tied up by the control that we lack

Immobilized, and losing time
Irreplaceable time.

We try to make the best of it
But we’ll never get it back

Only so much we can accomplish
when these walls hold us in.
So much that we are losing.
And such little chance to win.

The new gets old, then the same old
Our unique ambition, and our freedom
Both stifled, and home bound
We play, and we pause, and we replay
Just hanging on, and hanging around

Hopes and dreams, frozen in time
Irreplaceable time.

The realm of our possibility
Lost, before it is found

All this time on our hands.
Another puzzle, the same show.
Waking, again, to the same day.
The get up, without the go.

Living, barely, in this stalled world
Our venerable, and our most vulnerable
Scared and lost, alone with their fears
We enquire, and we talk, and we worry
Uncertainty clouds their dwindling years

A phone call is cold comfort, in eking time
Irreplaceable time.

Vaccination, their only anticipation
As each conclusion nears

We can only live in the moment,
with constraints on our living.
We take it, and we give it our best.
With limits on the giving.

The effect on our children, all the children
Testing our second nature. and our nurture
Everything matters, no matter their age
We try, and we miss, and we miss out
Without a book, we must turn the page

Life’s experiences, get passed by time
Irreplaceable time.

Resilient hearts, on tattered sleeves
Worn by the war we wage

Instinctively, we look closer to home,
and choose to focus on our own.
Difficult to look at the big picture.
When we can’t see the unknown.

These sad realities, are our commonalities
Our situation, and our consternation
The less we do, the more we learn
We follow, and we wallow, and we swallow
Another pill makes our insides churn

Living the same day, at the same time
Irreplaceable time.

When the only things that are new
Are variants of concern

So…we abide…again…and we adjust.
Smart to be smart, foolish to be brave.
It is our ability, in this inevitability,
to steady, and to ride another wave.

Yet, my pliable hope, and my optimism,
become increasingly hard.
As I look South, and around…
And see such blatant disregard.

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by ggreentree on April 12, 2021 • Permalink

Posted in Life lessons, Random Thoughts, Society

Tagged abide, adapt, adjust, ambition, anticipation, attack, big picture, blatant, children, cold comfort, commonalities, consternation, constraints, disregard, disrupt, dwindling, experiences, fears, foolish, freedom, frozen, home bound, hopeful, hopes and dreams, immobilized, Inevitable, intruder, irreplaceable, life, limits, losing, lost, nature, nurture, optimistic, pause, pliable, possibility, protect, puzzle, realities, relentless, replaY, resilient, Same, scared, sensibilities, Spite, stalled, statistics, tattered, thoughts, Time, uncertainty, unknown, vaccination, variants of concern, venerable, vulnerable, Wait, wallow, walls, war, wave, worn, worry

Posted by ggreentree on April 12, 2021

https://ggreentree.wordpress.com/2021/04/12/irreplaceable/

Meeting

Meeting

I arrive with wine, and little apprehension
Entering your home, my worries are very few
Confident that you are kind, that you are genuine
because your wonderful daughter is a part of you

As I look around, a comfort settles over me
Instantly, I am at ease, and even more sure
We say our hellos and she squeezes my hand
Moments later she takes me on a tour

I see warm colours, and family photos
lovingly displayed, up and down the hall
Your own creations, and your creativity,
gracing each room, and on every wall

Crafty signs, stitch work, and oil paintings
Your personal touches, so easily found
Children and teens, newlyweds and grandkids,
all of your loved ones, leaning or hanging around

Tangibly vibrant, with a flick of each switch
The now and the then, brought to light
The young couple, handsome and pretty
Their beginning, framed, in black and white

We stroll through your memories, new and old,
The long journey of a husband and a wife
A visual journal, of his story and yours,
Room to room, so full of a life

As we join everyone in your living room
I look to you, straight across, sitting in a chair
Our glances meet, knowingly, for a moment
neither overly concerned, but both of us aware

Just as I had hoped, with this important step,
I was adding perspective to my happy reality
But it was also tweaking my ongoing interest
with peoples’ grasps on their own mortality

I find myself staring, as we are having dinner
catching myself, just before you do
I am lost, inside my natural curiosity,
wondering about your point of view

I imagine what you might be thinking
Another Easter dinner, like any other year?
Are you blissfully oblivious to who is new,
and simply thankful that everyone is here?

Are you thinking about who is missing,
a little sad, and reminiscent as you look around?
Or are you soaking in the whole atmosphere
Every familiar sight, every happy sound?

Your grandchildren, all talking excitedly
That perfect mix of exuberance and loud
The smiles of three uniquely beautiful daughters
Your constant smile, telling me you are proud

Your living legacy, right here before you
Those most important, just being themselves
A vital portrait of your loving family
brought down from off the shelves

Your smile subsides only when you speak
Voice cracking, behind the few words you say
You seem quietly content, at the head of the table
as I gradually get to know you, on this April day

Everyone slowly heads towards the door,
saying thank-you and exchanging good-byes
I see your expression change, ever so slightly,
as a twinge of melancholy forms in your eyes

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by ggreentree on April 10, 2018 • Permalink

Posted in Life lessons, Random Thoughts, Society

Tagged apprehension, atmosphere, aware, Beautiful, beginning, black and white, children, colours, Comfort, concern, confident, constant, content, creation, curiosity, daughter, dinner, Ease, Easter, everyone, excited, expression, exuberance, eyes, familiar, family, few, found, full, genuine, glance, grandchildren, grasp, handsome, Happy, Home, Hope, husband, imagine, important, interest, journey, kind, Legacy, life, Light, living, long, lost, loud, loved, loving, Meeting, melancholy, memories, missing, Moment, mortality, natural, new, newlyweds, now, oblivious, old, perfect, personal, perspective., photos, pictures, Poetry, point of view, portrait, pretty, proud, reality, reminiscent, room, sad, sight, simple, smile, sound, step, story, stroll, table, tangible, thankful, then, thinking, tour, unique, vibrant, visual, vital, voice, wall, warm, wife, wonderful, wondering, words, worries

Posted by ggreentree on April 10, 2018

https://ggreentree.wordpress.com/2018/04/10/meeting/

Confined

“People try to hide their pain. But they’re wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It’s all in how you carry it.”
– Jim Morrison

Confined

He goes to bed each night
alone with the ache
His internal conflict
keeping them both awake
Wakes up weary every morning
lying beside his vanity
With a smile for his children
and a check mark for his sanity

Physical versus mental
in a battle of his pain
Sensory and substantial
is the signal from his brain
From necessity and habit
you conceal what you feel
It’s mind against matter
with wounds that won’t heal

Scar tissue and time
The confines of the mind
Self-motivation
Self-preservation
Selfishly suppressing the pain
Scar tissue and time
A safe place to hide
He fights the pain
His wounds remain
Sustaining himself from inside

An actor playing himself
in the true story of he
Absorbed in the role of everyman
and that’s who he has to be
Scripted by circumstance
he has lines on every page
Penned for his own purposes
he is resplendent on his stage

A song written in his head
but needed by his heart
Lyrics intended for healing
they’re upbeat from the start
Motivation for mind and body
Affected, but indeed sincere
He gives a selfless performance
for everyone to hear

Scar tissue and time
The complexities of the mind
Self-medication
Self-preservation
Selfishly deflecting the pain
Scar tissue and time
Enduring another day
Different roots of pain
No Ledger or Cobain
Determined to go another way

Scar tissue and time
You conceal what you feel
It’s mind against matter
When wounds never heal

Scar tissue and time
In the confines of your mind
You ascend another day
Starting from behind

1 Comment

by ggreentree on October 6, 2015 • Permalink

Posted in Life lessons, Lyrics, Random Thoughts, Society

Tagged actor, affected, awake, battle, brain, children, Circumstance, Cobain, complexity, conceal, Confined, conflict, conform, deflecting, endure, experience, feeling, fight, heal, healing, hide, inside, internal, Ledger, life, lyrics, matter, medication, mental, mind, morning, motivation, need, night, pain, physical, play, Poetry, preservation, Purpose, role, roots, safe, sanity, scar tissue, script, self, selfish, Selfless, sensory, signals, sleep, song, story, sustain, Time, true, vanity, wounds

Posted by ggreentree on October 6, 2015

https://ggreentree.wordpress.com/2015/10/06/confined/

BOUND

Photo courtesy of Lana Nolan

BOUND

Unbreakable love…
An emotional commitment
that knows no bounds
Far more than just the words
An unbreakable love
feels even better than it sounds

Photo courtesy of Lana Nolan

This love…
Brings impressions to the surface
Puts perspective in its place
An exchange of due respect
It’s a level of understanding
That works best face to face

This love…
Embraces all that is right
Can endure what may go wrong
Joined as one in our resolve
We are bonded by integrity
And together we are strong

Unbreakable love…
An emotional commitment
that knows no bounds
Unbreakable love
It feels even better
than it sounds

Photo courtesy of Lana Nolan

This love…
Needs to be nourished
Requires both give and take
Fueled by new beginnings
By the hopes that we have
With the memories that we make

This love…
Leads us on our journey
Adds excitement to every day
To the realities of here and now
The possibilities of tomorrow
And to our hopes along the way

This love that we share…
Is reinforced by our children
Strengthened by family and friends
It enhances our life experience
It is the heart of who we are
And is the means to our ends

Photo courtesy of Lana Nolan

An unbreakable love…
An emotional commitment
that knows no bounds
More than just the words
Our unbreakable love
is even better than it sounds

Leave a comment

by ggreentree on July 25, 2015 • Permalink

Posted in Inspiration, Love, Lyrics

Tagged beginnings, better, Bound, children, commitment, emotional, endure, exchange, excitement, experiences, face to face, family, feelings, friends, give and take, Hopes, impression, integrity, journey, Love, means, memories, perspective., Poetry, possibilities, realities, resolve, Respect, right and wrong, sharing, strong, together, tomorrow, unbreakable, understanding, Way, words

Posted by ggreentree on July 25, 2015

https://ggreentree.wordpress.com/2015/07/25/bound/

Jump

Jump

I clearly remember
like it was yesterday.
You said “jump”
as plain as could be.
I stared down
as you looked up.
My one-plus year old
smiling at me.

With cautious hands
beneath your arms.
I lifted my little girl
from her little bed.
I laughed aloud
at my surprise.
“Of course you can”
was all I said.

Walking on air
to the end of the hall.
Down the stairs
to your favorite place.
Different this time
with that single word.
And the anxious look
on your one-plus face.

You seemed more eager
as I put you in.
The harness secure
under your tiny frame.
You immediately began
as I let you go.
I immediately knew
it would never be the same.

“Jump, jump, JUMP!”
as plain as could be.
Three more times
as you bounced and sat.
With no hesitation
and the proudest grin.
“Jump, jump, JUMP!”
just like that.

Astounded, I watched
and intently I listened.
My bouncing baby girl
and her happy word.
Up and down
and over and over.
The sweetest sound
that I had ever heard.

There may have been
a “mama” or a “dada”.
But nothing as perfect
or with less doubt.
Other infant things
that infants say.
There must have been
but I’ve blocked them out.

I soaked it all in
and beamed with pride.
“She’s smart already
and athletic too!”
It occurred to me
on that glorious day.
And it’s the same now
when I think of you.

A vivid memory
about my first-born.
I tell it often
and I’m never bored.
This proud father,
who could show you now…
If he’d grabbed his camera
and pressed ‘record’.

1 Comment

by ggreentree on September 5, 2014 • Permalink

Posted in Inspiration, Life lessons, Love

Tagged anxious, children, daughter, father, Jump, laughter, listen, memories, now, past, Poetry, pride, proud, secure, smile, surprise, vivid

Posted by ggreentree on September 5, 2014

https://ggreentree.wordpress.com/2014/09/05/jump/

Steps

Steps

Certain steps along the way…

When we are young and so impressionable

When our ways are changing every day

When love and support are our best influences…

Certain steps along the way.

When we grow and learn and live

When we are taught how to act and what to say

When our family guides us through right and wrong…

Certain steps along the way.

When we leave to start out on our own

When we have more responsibility with every day

When all we have learned shapes who we are…

Certain steps along the way.

When we choose our life-long love

When our lives are open to come what may

When we think about all there is to experience…

Certain steps along the way.

When we have a family of our own

When it is time to show someone else the way

When the steps in life seem far too steep…

We will know the steps that we should take…

When we encounter all of this world’s ups and downs…

Those certain steps will show the way.

1 Comment

by ggreentree on August 4, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Inspiration

Tagged children, family, guidance, independence, learning, Life lessons, Love, Poetry, responsibility, Steps, support

Posted by ggreentree on August 4, 2013

https://ggreentree.wordpress.com/2013/08/04/1541/

Home

I have found over the last couple of years that I have a certain ritual that I perform whenever I am doubting my place in this world.

I actually go outside and stand on the street and look back at my house, my car, my life and I pause and realize just how fortunate that I am.

Then I walk around it all and stop to take a good look out back.

Deck needs work… trees need trimming… house needs paint… and I need fulfillment. I sit or stand on my deck and bask in the exhilaration of uncertainty.

Then I go inside and look at some of the pictures on the wall… listen to some familiar music… soak in some of the memories… and suddenly I have refound my fortune… and my home.

I usually think about staying inside more… working on my deck gradually… using the front door a lot… and then my two daughters walk through that same door and I am fulfilled until the next time.

3 Comments

by ggreentree on July 12, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Inspiration, Random Thoughts

Tagged children, fortunate, fulfillment, Home, Love, memories, Music, pride, Prose, Random Thoughts

Posted by ggreentree on July 12, 2013

https://ggreentree.wordpress.com/2013/07/12/home/

Vanquish

Cerebral images pervade your night
Eye locked visions in mind’s eye sight
Blank pages with much to write
A tapestry of perception in black and white.

Wish it all away…
No candle or magic star.
Just you, and yourself
And experiences of so far.

Wish it all away…
Wipe the slate clean.
Put hope into words
And say what you mean.

Task at hand     Sample portions               Fifteen minutes
Everyday life                Food for thought    National stage
Real emotions                What to consume             Bad timing
Sharp as a knife              And what to not     Turn the page

Harsh words      She the suitor        Student athlete
Six year grudge             He the sought                   Next step school
Lost time friend       Too blind to see        Many distractions
Be the judge       Lost a lot             Played the fool

Jaded gentleman                          Convenient comfort
Could not care                               Tried to feel
Put up walls                   Broke her heart
Stayed right there                          It was not real

Wish it all away…
Give wings to all is well.
Lift up with mighty means
And fly out of your shell.

Wish it all away…
Let dreams take flight.
Grasp for what you want
And hold on with all your might.

In this moment                Reach for more              Share the wealth
Years remain    Easier it seems               Enrich together
Cherish the now               Realistic goals                Find the sun
Vanquish the vain          In lofty dreams              In every weather

Healthy core                     Beautiful girls          Places to see
Keep it fit                           Reflective light                  Worlds to share
Staying young                   Keep you strong                Minds like clay
Grind and grit                   Reasons to fight                Shape them there

Hidden love                    Rhythmic existence             Final scene
Ready to find                  Music of the heart               One act play
Seek and enjoy               Drum pound beat                Be the hero
Body and mind               The guitar part                    Save the day

Project an image                 Open to anything
Set the stage                                Brand new lease
Build a legacy                           Broken no more
Enliven the page                         Found my peace

Cerebral images shine some light
Life time lessons in mind’s eye sight
Blank pages with much more to write
A tapestry of perception in black and white.

Wish it all away…
My place is right here.
Stay true to myself
And be crystal clear.

Wish it all away…
The past is in the past.
The future really is now
And we are here at last.