Shine

Let's hear it for the power of intention: guess who first opened her eyes on her birthday at 6:09am? That's right, I had a full night's sleep to begin my 43rd year, and was it ever glorious!

Speaking of glorious, it could not have been a more beautiful day nor a day more perfectly suited to me -- sunny and 80 degrees! And I received so many lovely birthday wishes in all forms -- hugs, cards, compliments, Facebook posts, texts, phone calls, lunch and dinner al fresco, birthday treats, presents... I feel incredibly blessed.

And although it certainly isn't an entirely happy kind of gift to receive, I realized today that it is a gift that my adventure lovin' ex-boyfriend is as clear as he is about needing to go where he can shine. God knows (as do both of us having lived through years of unhappiness in previous relationships), as hard as it is to let go, it is far preferable to holding on when you just don't have what one another needs.

As luck and/or fate would have it, David Gray wrote a beautiful song that pretty much draws the same conclusion:

I can see it in your eyes
What I know in my heart is true
That our love it has faded
Like the summer run through
So we'll walk down the shoreline
One last time together
Feel the wind blow our wanderin' hearts
Like a feather
But who knows what's waiting
In the wings of time
Dry your eyes
We gotta go where we can shine

Don't be hiding in sorrow
Or clinging to the past
With your beauty so precious
And the season so fast
No matter how cold the horizon appear
Or how far the first night
When I held you near
You gotta rise from these ashes
Like a bird of flame
Step out of the shadow
We've gotta go where we can shine

For all that we struggle
For all we pretend
It don't come down to nothing
Except love in the end
And ours is a road
That is strewn with goodbyes
But as it unfolds
As it all unwinds
Remember your soul is the one thing
You can't compromise
Take my hand
We're gonna go where we can shine
We're gonna go where we can shine
We're gonna go where we can shine

Yes we do. And I intend to use this year to shine, help my children shine, and help others shine too, by teaching yoga, continuing to write and generally being the best me I can be.