Wildflower

Got to spend this past weekend in nature with my girl,
joined by
Two
Strong
Women
who have lifted us up year after year,
with encouraging words and laughs and listens ~
And in this special garden,
where breathy warmth radiates from overgrown grass,
and the sun coaxes my city-knots out,
I
find myself
most
at home.

This is a dreamscape I get lost in,
discreetly dressed with its filigree nests,
quiet giants wearing branches like capes,
where flowers show up as though someone called "places",
and the air a sweet combination of it all -
comfortably still and other times moved in careless breezes.

My happiest moments are watching my
      tween
                 (gasp)
free in this landscape
parked in a camping chair on our dirt drive, wading in a creek,
or off to trudge through last year's goldenrod to perch in the sun
and
survey the land -
A Pioneer out for an afternoon trek
with a snack, a book and important random items.

How I love being her mother.

How she got this way,
I just don't know.
Cause I've been watching, studying and reluctantly loosening my everyday embraces
but last time I looked, really looked,
I couldn't envision her older self, once she
outgrew
her crib.

But here She is,
this lovely creature,
who takes her space
and lives bravely outloud
electric with change and song and opinion
drinking in the details of growing up
tackling its glories
while deeply pondering its unimaginable
and just-not-right
very dark
twists.

In This Place,
I like to think
she's safe to feel it all,
because this is where
winds don't judge,
the sky stays high
and everything
just goes
to the tune
of
seasons.

Last time we were here there was a perfect nest of blue-green eggs,
and this time birds have taking their place,
fresh in the world with their eyes still shut.
Their mom rarely budges
from her
protective
perch
She too has that vulnerable love
of nurturing her babes and
guarding them,
boldly, beneath her wings.

One day, though,
they'll all
Insist
on Taking Flight -
but for now,
as long as
Now
can last,
we're both still reaching
to keep them close.