Road trip!
Today I’m driving to Minnesota
to meet the girls,
if women in their 50s
can still be called girls.
But we will spend the weekend together
and act like girls,
a little.
And then like therapists.
We will talk and laugh,
and maybe even cry.
We will walk and eat and
just be
together
for awhile.
Not very long,
but just long enough
to heal our souls.
I see my grandson
at two,
running wild,
his orange curls
bouncing with each step.
He jumps and runs and climbs
with so much energy
so much fierce joy.
And I wonder
when do we lose that?
The breakneck rush
into the world
excited to go
to do
to see
to experience?
When do we become cautions,
of people
of the world
of our own selves?
We learn to
hedge our bets and
couch our opinions in qualifiers
so as not to upset anyone, anything.
We water down our desires,
expect less,
express less,
enjoy life less.
And how do we get it back?
That vibrant life,
that wild joy we all once had
In Other Words 