Grief and Joy are such a part of life — when one is in Joy, Grief is in the shadows, so one forgets how it is the sharpness of Grief that makes Joy possible. It’s the pits when we are forced to remember.

Yet there is something to New Life that comes with death, and the ending of a year is another form of dying to be reborn. So Happy New Year — not with all of the bells and whistles (or the firecrackers at night) — but with the surge from within of Life that doesn’t stop, moving inexorably on, despite our puny ego’s desire for a break, if only to catch our breath.

Time does heal, but more than time, it’s the people around us — and those who have passed on, who help us to hang onto the essence of Life and why it is we are here, and remain behind.

ALLOW yourself to fall into the arms of your friends, to fall into the hearts of your friends (who hold the heart of God), as effortlessly as gravity holds your feet and the waves carry your boat.