Thread:Goathouse/@comment-29082502-20170901162948

I want to be more positive, but it's been a very scary week. The friends who have reached out to me have each made such a difference in a time of great uncertainty. There is a definite cost to a solid week of hypervigilence. There comes a time when all that pent up emotion is gonna bust out. It's all about balance. And it flows both ways. Giving and receiving become the same.

I am torn at the images of traumatized children, wearing garbage bags. I feel the fear, the anxiety, the uncertainty of 'what happens next'. And yet, the child still trusts, still needs to make sense of 'what is happening now'. If you don't feel the power of empathy, you don't have a heart.

So, despite my inner strength and projected can-do attitude, I'm here to tell you that a hug makes a great difference during a crisis. If you can, zoom in on this guy's face. Love is what is important in ALL our lives. When you have to choose something to survive for, choose love; chose life. Everything else is just *stuff*.

I find that I have more to say about what is happening and has already been put into motion. But I will save that for another time. I long for the sun dappled days when getting wet in the pond was not traumatic, but something to look forward to. I am the old goat, with one eye directed toward Irma, already a Category 3 hurricane with 115 mph winds, running the guantlet of the Caribbean by this weekend.

And the very fact that it's almost statistically impossible for it to strike the Texas coast does not reassure me in any way. Harvey was classified as a one in 1,000 year storm and defied all previous hurricane behavior. Why expect the weather to conform to man's ideas of what should happen? I hope that I am just hypersensitive, but I am going to go ahead and ask now, before I even know who needs it: hug someone you care about today! Love flows both ways or not at all.

Thank you all for your concern and for being the kind of people capable of emotional availability. I needed what you have given. I am exhausted, but your gifts kept me from becoming empty. I will try to rebuild my strength for a short time, and have so much more to share. My brain needs some peace right now, so that is what I share with you all...peace. 