There comes a time each year...

When I do think of you...

The sweetness of a summer romance...

The bitterness of what I knew...

...and so the poem begins...

Words written from my past, left indelibly printed on my heart.

What is it about the past that we feel the need to constantly borrow from it and return to it? What is it about MY past that with each return of summer I continue to find myself here? ...Remembering, living in a past that is no longer, allowing my heart to be in a place that is neither here nor there...

This path, this journey, this road of life that I now stand upon... it asks of me to let go of my hold of the past and to live in the presence of the moment. So much easier said than done, that's for sure! I suppose these moments we face allow us the opportunity to move through life in such a way that we are asked to look upon ourselves and ask the question, "What will you do to show your mastery of your convictions of love and compassion not just for yourself, but for others, too?"

It is in the moments of loneliness that these memories come back to me. And with the break of summer I am reminded of the love I once had. Perhaps it is not so much that I am asked to forget, but to honor that moment in time of having loved and been loved. The strength of one's first love leaves an amazingly beautiful impression on the heart... and it is that which I have been holding on to for too long now. To find that love and compassion for myself is to release my hold on the past... to know thankfulness in the gift of a first love... to uncover the treasure of acceptance in where I am today...and to continue in loving kindness towards myself...and others.

There are times, as a single person, that one feels that little pang of loneliness. It doesn't stay with us forever, but it is there. All I ask... from family, friends, whomever... allow for us to have those feelings... allow us to honor that which touches our heart... not to live in the past of what we used to have... not to dwell on what we don't have... but more so to know of that which we already have... the abundance of love that surrounds us in family and friends.

It is in speaking the truth of what lies in our hearts that we see the gift of what we have today.