But today it is raining. And the sound and the smell slows everything down just enough that I am offered this moment. To pause. To reflect. The rain always makes me feel at home - perhaps it is not the rain itself, but how it turns me inward, where home can always be found.
The last several years seem to have raced by, unlike the time up north which almost stood still. A cascade of changes, events, realizations. Love, at first mostly received and hard to give; then truth, and heartbreak; then love again; then truth again and again, it's loyal companion: heartbreak. Then once again, Love. But a different Love. The biggest Love. A Love I still can't explain, or wrap my arms around, or give or receive, because it isn't a thing. It isn't mine. This Love that discovered me is a way. It is life itself. It is in and for everyone. And I felt as though I may burst with it. I woke up. From that point, the path was clear - and life picked me up and swept me along it. Reunion. Rejuvenation. Healing. Trust. The faith and companionship of a true and strong partner, who had been there all along, waiting for me. And now the grandest adventure of all: new life. Our baby. Tumbling around my swelling belly, making me smile. Steeping in Love.
