i salute the weekend's sun
as the bay breeze waves through my window
nothing in between Spirit and me
i radiate beyond
and cradle my heart in my hands
i gaze into hushed light
i stand in summer's lull
and welcome autumn's equinox
We finally received our second approval (renewal) of our immigration application to adopt a child from the Philippines. It expires November next year. We hope (and hope and hope and hope . . . ) heartfully that we will not have to endure another renewal next year as that would mean updating our paperwork once again. The waiting continues . . .
In the meantime, I never tire of The Starfish Story, a tale common across adoption communities:
THE STARFISH STORY by Loren Eisley
"One day, while walking along the shore,
the wise old man looked down the beach,
and saw a gracefully dancing human figure.
The wise old man wondered out loud,
“Who would be dancing all alone on the beach?”
He began to walk faster to catch up.
Getting closer, the wise man saw that the dancer
was a child, who was not dancing at all.
The child was reaching down to the sand to pick up
something, and was very gently throwing it into the sea.
The man called out to the child,
“Good Morning! What are you doing?”
The child paused, looked up and replied,
“Throwing Starfish into the sea.”
Surprised, the man said,
“Yes, I see that, but WHY are you throwing Starfish into the sea?”
The child smiled brightly, pointed upward and
with perfect simplicity replied,
“The sun is up, and the tide is going out.
If I don’t throw them in, they will die.”
“But, don’t you realize, “asked the man,
“that there are miles and miles of beach and Starfish all along it?
You can’t possibly make a difference!”
The child listened politely.
Then bent down, picked up another Starfish,
threw it gently into the sea, just beyond the breaking waves,
and joyfully declared,
“It made a difference for that one."
