Of Comfort
A letter to myself
Dear Dawn Marie,
Let us look for the things that comfort us. They are small, but important. They are gifts we can give to ourselves.
The world is too large, and it holds no comfort for us. We will not doomscroll the Bad News. Instead, we will reach out directly to friends. We will share good news and bad news with them; we will ask for help and comfort; we will offer succor and support.
We have a fervent desire to visit God in their house, but the men and women who keep the house from our childhood do not welcome the people we love, not genuinely. So we will spend Sunday mornings having coffee in bed with our spouse, and have breakfast with our children, and when we have recovered strength and gotten distance from our disappointment, we will look for another house. One that welcomes the authentic self of all people.
Our spiritual comforts will come from spending time outside, watching birds and cultivating our shabby gardens. (They are not much, our shabby gardens, but they are excuses to be dirty and have plants.)
Our physical comforts will come from preparing meals and feeding our people. From eating good meals. From exercise, and comfortable clothing, and spooning with our husband in the mornings.
We will do yoga and tang soo do. We will check in with our emotions. We will talk to our therapist and take our medications.
We will strive to be okay and make our small corner of the world okay.
The world is too big. Let us find comfort in what is small.
