My brother and I buried a hummingbird in the yard recently.
After finding her quiet body on the sidewalk in front of my home, we drank in the iridescent turquoise of her feathers and then tucked her sweetly into the earth.
And now the roses nearby are blooming. Wildly. Passionately.
And I can’t stop thinking about the old life I have buried.
And the new life I’m waiting to bloom.
But inside of this becoming, I wonder if perhaps life’s less about the bloom.
Perhaps a life is more so made up of the most simple, tender moments.
Moments of planting our love.
And that’s the only thing that feels right for me inside of my own transformation and the uncertainty of our changing and heartbreaking world.
So I send my love to our new hummingbird ancestor.
And I thank her for giving me the gift of honoring her life.
And I’ll always see her in the green stems of the roses, the prismatic light of water droplets on leaves, the fullness of her spirit in the fullness of the bloom.
And I will keep planting my love.
Hands in dirt. Heart on my sleeve.
And I’ll leave the bloom to the mystery.
Because right here is where I choose.
Love is the legacy I’m seeding.
Hello loves. I hope this love note meets you resourced by the lushness of early summer and the love of your communities. In these times of wild cultural and ecological transformation I’m practicing holding on to what I can do with my own body. My own hands. My own heart. And I don’t know how it will all turn out. But right here I’m fed by small acts of care. Practicing care, both as giver and receiver, is what fortifies my hope for a more loving world.
And I can feel us creating that world in our gardens, our gatherings, our protests, our ceremonies, our art. And I can feel the power of all of these small seeds growing together. And I’m so grateful that we’re choosing togetherness. Against all the odds inside violent colonial systems, the people are planting love.
I think for many of us the only commitment we have anymore is growing our lives with love at the center. And I trust that someday something precious and beautiful will bloom from here.
I love y’all.
🌻 Josie
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I am endlessly grateful to each of you for your presence here. Your support and sharing is so appreciated.