#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

"You darkness, that I come from,
I love you more than all the fires
that fence in the world,
for the fire makes
a circle of light for everyone,
and then no one outside learns of you.

But the darkness pulls in everything;
shapes and fires, animals and myself,
how easily it gathers them!—
powers and people—
and it is possible a great energy
is moving near me.
I have faith in nights."
-  Rainer Maria Rilke, On Darkness

The first thought I have upon waking: he is born today. Fortunately, he lives nearby, so I drive to his driveway and leave the Happy Birthday treats I have bought for him outside where he will find them when he wakes. Then, I walk the dogs at Medfield State. It’s 37 degrees, which is refreshingly cold, like a mint. Pleasant and energizing. There is a white moon in a baby blue sky over the meadow that has been mowed. We tromp along and go into the wooded part of the trail and to the edge of the rippling river. Then we walk past the rushing brook and wander along the brook through the brush, admiring the water winding along. I have prepped for my Farm Pond Writer’s webinar, so I am not in a hurry. It’s so peaceful this morning. We lived in Florida when my son was born Dec. 2, 1987. Late fall was warm, often muggy. It was my first fall in Florida, away from New England. He was born around 7:00 a.m. I was looking forward very much to my mother arriving the next day, when we would take him home, and she stayed a week to help us. We brought him home to Clearwater, to our condo, to our happy first home where we were so happy to have him and mothering, this new role, was begun, for me, with this boy who is now a man.