Ramble On

...Gather gladness from the skies; Take a lesson from the ground; Flowers do ope their heavenward eyes And a Spring-time joy have found; Earth throws Winter’s robes away, Decks herself for Easter Day. Beauty now for ashes wear, Perfumes for the garb of woe. Chaplets for disheveled hair, Dances for sad footsteps slow; Open wide your hearts that they Let in joy this Easter Day. Seek God’s house in happy throng; Crowded let His table be; Mingle praises, prayer and song, Singing to the Trinity. Henceforth let your souls alway Make each mourn an Easter Day. -Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1865

... since Good Friday of 2011. All was excitement and anticipation, all was possibility. While I still feel all of those things now, I think they have been tempered with a bit more growth, and a bit more perspective. My hope and excitement remain but they are of an entirely different quality. Last year I had just finished my master's degree and was heading off on an international adventure with the best cousin anyone could ask for. I was about to move into my own place from having lived at home during grad school. I was about to start my first real job. All of those huge life milestones came on the heels of each other in rapid succession over about 3 months. It was a golden summer, that summer of 2011. But I think for different reasons, it was a gold that lost its glimmer once the trees lost their leaves. You see, now I understand that I had built up a hope and a happiness around the things that it takes to count as a person in this world, by most standards. Once that ha...