Hugs. I mean humongous, humble hugs that surround and soothe your sensitive soul. I speak about the kind of hug that makes us feel worthy and welcome. A gesture that sparks and strengthens the warrior within us, inspiring our will to overcome our abuse while reaching out to others still stuck in its stinging stronghold.

Sometimes our pain paints a cloud over our real needs. It gobbles up our personhood and becomes a brutal beast that swallows us whole. We become the sustenance for the pain that makes us its prey. Oh, really?

Yesterday I was sweeping the fireplace ashes from a fire we made the night before.. Pretty mundane, don't you think? Oh, the seemingly innocent minutiae in my life... Once again, IN MY FACE, offering to bring deeper meaning.  For me, this always births a blog. 

Did I mention that these ashes were still warm? This set my mind in motion. I placed the ashes outside, then rook off running...to my computer.

Funny how life has a way of rolling down the tracks. We make stops throughout the day; hello, goodbye, and then it's back to business… We keep hammering on… 

Every once in a while, something stops us "in our tracks;" perhaps something as mundane as a fallen limb, dead-center on the straight line we furiously follow.  There is no detour until we clear our path… That's what we do.  We move along until the wheels grind to a halt. If we're lucky, it was just a glitch. Clear those tracks and we are golden. Then reality comes barreling down the tracks...