ROOTS
You first set roots
in my womb
building your worlds to nourish and grow
Limbs grow long and strong
reaching to God - to love
Balancing on the edges
of beginnings
The bark you grow
will protect and crack
so that
bruised and bit
you still
triumph against gravity
drawing nourishment from air, sun and soil
Become a most
amazing you
once linked to me
now free
to be!
By Jennifer Hill
The time spent at the Nurture Yourself, Nurture Your Family retreat in Montpelier with Amy LePage-Hansen reaffirmed that the strains of work, parenting, partnering, and life can be handled with awareness and grace. We practiced ways of finding the constant source of this positive energy by noticing the beauty of life in small, appreciative and renewing ways. It was a great experience to have time to myself in a community with other moms. It was equally great to witness how much I am enriched by this experience of parenthood and how it has enhanced relationships all around me. May you find moments to nourish yourself so that you can keep on keeping on!
(Jennifer Hill is the librarian at Crossett Brook Middle School)