Some days we need affirmations, when we've been working too hard and living too little. Today this poem - my own again, because I know them best - is helping:
My Own Worth
Alice C. Bateman
Snow like ripe cotton on hedges
Only want to stay here where it's warm
Indulge in my memories of wintertimes past
Stay safely tucked in from the storm
The days when the snow lay like frosting on cake
The cakes were the fields of my youth
The days when my life was as easy as pie
And you, Mom and Dad, held the truth
The days before wandering, wondering, seeking
My place on this crowded old Earth
The days before questioning, hurting and weeping
When I already knew my own worth
You, Mom and Dad, you have helped bouy me up
At times when the sorrows near took me
When we crashed into war on Dad's birthday that year
You anchored, each time events shook me
Now you've been together for sixty long years
Amazing, in this time and place
But you've held us together with God's love and yours
You've inspired us all with your Grace
I hope you are all well, and am about to look again at all the messages left when I was gone. I won't be going away again any time soon, I have a summer full of family coming to visit, and plan to spend my time right here in Wonderland, with my Wondersmith friends. I wish you could all come for tea in my yard, or for my Alice in Wonderland birthday party in August, but it's a little far for the majority of you. I'll have to get pictures taken outside when it's all growing flowers and pretty. The house is pitiful itself, but the grounds and the view make this one of the nicest properties in the city. I'm very lucky to be renting it.
It's nice to be back home. I might have to go away actually, doing some promotional work, but I'll let you all know in advance next time.
Love and Hugs to All,
Alice