EARTH ROOTS

Kristy and Jack

Today is your birthday, and I would rather remember your birth than your death.  I know your family and friends are all thinking of you today Kristy.  This last year was another milestone - and you would have been 33 today.  Who knows what you would have accomplished?  Each time I look at your photo I feel as if I am looking into myself.  It's as if I am holding all my memories of you in one hand and there is so much love. One thing is certain - no one who knew you will ever forget you.  You are connected to us all.


What are Earth Roots, my daughter asked
when she was just a child,
examining each flower in its home.


Earth Roots are a special connection,
a sacred thread that joins our spirits
to every living thing, I said.  Earth Roots
Join me to you, and you to birds and flowers.


In her hand my daughter held a sparrow
with a broken wing.  She said:
Can Earth Roots make the sparrow fly again?


The sparrow can become a rose, in time,
just as the rose takes wing, I said.
Earth Roots make all things possible.


My daughter did not understand these things
until she had a daughter of her own.
Then she saw the way Earth Roots join
The sparrow to the rose.


-  Earth Roots, by Nancy Wood

P.S.  Jack sends you his love.  He misses you.