I have the best job in the world! I paint and write poetry every day. When my shift ends, I go home and do the same thing. I have envisioned this kind of life for as long as I can remember and now it’s actually real. I am so fortunate to get to do the things I love.
At one of our recent writer’s groups at work, we had the prompt “what’s worth the risk?” I immediately thought of my daughter. She was a high-risk pregnancy due to a medication I take. Here’s the poem I wrote:
The Risk in the Storm
A tear-soaked past
and a broken brain
were met with resilience
and an abundance of love.
The idea of you
was met with resistance –
the biggest risk
in the smallest package.
You came into this world
in lightning and thunder.
It was the longest night –
out of the darkness came your light.
You were once a dream out of reach
but now I lift you up
to taste the stars
grounded in my purpose.
Six years of giggles and tears,
six years to the moon and back.
You can fall down but get back up
because I promise my love is for life.
You’re the littlest girl
with the biggest heart
and brightest smile.
Let your storm change your world.
Now it’s your turn — what’s worth the risk?
Keeping a pet.
Because their lives are short compared to ours, we are doomed to see them die.
And yet.
Also agree on keeping a pet. They give so much, and it hurts so much when they die. But they’re totally worth it.
I think human children become less wonderful in their teen years so that you can stand to let them go when they’re adults.
Love.
Loving anyone, anything, opens you up to betrayal and heartache and loss. Only by risking can you love and be loved. And without love, is living itself worth the effort?
I agree with the comment thread so far, although i don’t like the word love. Opening yourself up to connection with other creatures is hard and can hurt but is worth it
My partner died a while ago, but the relationship was still worth the pain of her death. Same for her rabbit who I cared for after her death. Also my shitty ex who decided to burn her life down (still alive AFAIK)
that emotional vulnerability and connection to other life is worth it