Turtle Goddess she of the hard shell soft

[mizjjd]

Is he really charming when he wants to be?
He can be. Or once upon a time he could be. Its hard for me to be objective now, so I'm not a good judge. But H can exude a certain charisma. I definitely think he is depressed, and has been for quite some time.

And I perceive that you can take very good care of yourself,
Not as good as I should, but I am working on it. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

There have been times in my life I used to love to go above and beyond the call of duty, this time not being one of them.

rH, you must give yourself a HUGE break. You have done so much. Aren't you exhausted? I think you always go above and beyond. Maybe you don't "love" it right now, but you still shine bright lady.

I was reading and rereading your signature line. Did you write it?

Not at all. I stole it from a poem, copied below. But I do like it very much. There is so much in this poem that speaks to both sides of MLC sitches.

The Layers by Stanley Kunitz

I have walked through many lives,
some of them my own,
and I am not who I was,
though some principle of being
abides, from which I struggle
not to stray.

When I look behind,
as I am compelled to look
before I can gather strength
to proceed on my journey,
I see the milestones dwindling
toward the horizon
and the slow fires trailing
from the abandoned camp-sites,
over which scavenger angels
wheel on heavy wings.

Oh, I have made myself a tribe
out of my true affections,
and my tribe is scattered!
How shall the heart be reconciled
to its feast of losses?

In a rising wind
the manic dust of my friends,
those who fell along the way,
bitterly stings my face.
Yet I turn, I turn,
exulting somewhat,
with my will intact to go
wherever I need to go,
and every stone on the road
precious to me.

In my darkest night,
when the moon was covered
and I roamed through wreckage,
a nimbus-clouded voice
directed me:
"Live in the layers,
not on the litter."

Though I lack the art
to decipher it,
no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written.

I am not done with my changes.