Loving You Still; begun 2012, finished 2016; 28″ 20″; mixed media: collage, ink, watercolor, pastel, acrylic.

I lie flat on my back in rustling shade, gazing at the wide-eyed blue eye of forever, clear as far as I can see. Then sneaking into the outer rim of my vision, billows of twirling whirligigs, shrouding the afternoon sun. I sit up, surprised, as myriad ripple across the sky, like laughter. The trees around me dance in the breeze, as if happy to let me in on their secret: just at that very moment, releasing their messages to tomorrow.

I feel a sense of wonder to be present, here, now, when what is so expectantly looks forward to what will be.

I think that’s what it’s like for me and the people who have gone ahead. Here, I send out my love like little embers into the universe, like little messages carried beyond time and place.

And somewhere, I think these invisible longings billow across the sky like whirligigs. In my imagination, I see my loved ones leaping to catch them, laughing, collecting them as a deposit for the day when what is yields to what will be.