“She is clothed in strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.”

i never met my great-grandfather, “Hep”. my Mom was pregnant when he passed. but i knew my great-grandmother until she was 96 or 97 years old. i smile when i think of her. She was such a hot ticket, so he had to have been. i know my mom adored him. turns out, his passions in life were a lot like my own. he was a writer, gardener, a lover of horses and the outdoors. he was a dentist. we differ there. i wish i could have known him but his writing makes me know him.

One of my favorite things to read is a poem he wrote called Simple Things, what he also titled his book.

Lord, let me do the simple things:
The songs that touch me day by day,
A robin’s throaty carolings,
A bluebird’s cheery roundelay.

I shall not find a finer air
Than these, by nature richly penned;
No loftier tune can say i share
The joy or sorrow of a friend.

No flights of fancy may i try,
But on these somber, quiet wings
Shall soar within my lowly sky…
May I do well the simple things.

JCH

Today is my great grandmother’s birthday. Today is the end of breast cancer awareness month. Today i don’t have a lot of words, of my own. Today it has been one year since my last radiation treatment. My cancercation is coming to an end, for now. Here are some photos from my last week in northern Colorado. xo