by Kelly

only time will tell

if this second snow will stick —

please, we pray, for change

by Kelly

* * *

Hello, Miss Monarch.

Mexico is far away.

Fly, I tell her. Fly!

Several years ago, Hubby and I took a trip to Mexico. We did not go to the beach. We went to the central highlands looking for monarch butterflies.

Every year, monarch butterflies from all over North America journey to this part of Mexico in order to pass the winter someplace warm, meet up with other monarchs and breed. The monarchs arrive in Mexico in November and stay until March. Peak monarch-viewing season is January and February.

Hubby and I, though, were in Mexico in November. Our guide promised us that more monarchs were coming, but we could hardly believe how many were already there.

Early morning, pre-sunrise, is the best time to go and see the monarchs. To ward off the night-time chill, the butterflies hang together in clumps so dense that the branches of trees sag underneath the collective weight of the monarchs.

The butterflies are waiting, patiently, for the sun to rise. As soon as a ray of sun hits a clump of hanging monarchs long enough to warm them up, they burst into a cloud of flying butterflies and fill the sky. There are so many of them that you can actually hear their wings beating!

As I look back over my life so far, I know that I have been blessed with many exceptional travel experiences. However, my trip to the monarch reserves in Mexico ranks among the most amazing. It was truly a spiritual experience, which surprised me. I expected to be awed by the sheer number of butterflies I saw. I did not expect to feel like I had had an encounter with the divine.

Ever since that trip, I view monarch butterflies differently. In the past two weeks, I’ve noticed several flittering about as I take my dogs on walks. I stop and watch them dance through the air and I’m convinced that, although they my loop around a patch of flowers, in general they all seem to be moving south. Whey they fly past me, I always make sure to attach a small prayer to each. May you make it to Mexico, I whisper.

by Kelly

“God moment,” Mom says.

“Haiku moment,” I believe.

Really, we’re both right.

by Alison

whether or not

there is a god -

heavenly skies

by Kelly

So many people

to keep in my prayers — the end

of the year draws near

by Kelly

interfaith marriage

on CNN because of

Chelsea Clinton’s beau

What do these pundits

know of me and my husband?

I stab the remote.

Outside it’s humid

83 at 8:30

no forecast of rain

I sigh into the

stickiness, breathe it in

till I acclimate.

Then, turning around,

I open my front door to

the cool air of home.

by Alison

yoga teacher once

said god is in everyone -

daughter’s smile lights up

by Kelly

god communicates

via sunlight shattered and

dancing on water

by Kelly

Our splintering ash

groans in pain? anger? warning?

It’s bigger than us.

by Kelly

Easter comes and goes

and my spring break skin still peels —

I too am reborn