"How wonderful that we not only have the opportunity to live our lives, we have the opportunity to accept them. We have spent so much time and energy foolishly fighting things we cannot change and butting out heads up against steel-reinforced brick walls that we have not stopped to ask ourselves if this is the hill we want to die on. Part of learning to live our lives is developing the ability to accept what cannot be changed and learning to live creatively with those situations. Also we need to discover what can be challenged and to move forward with courage when necessary. Acceptance is not resignation. Acceptance is serenity and embracing life." - "Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much

Sometimes accepting things we cannot change is hard. Really, really, unbearably hard. A heartache no human was ever meant to bare. The literal ache in your stomach, your adrenaline- a fight or flight response with nothing tangible to fight.  And honestly, sometimes we may never quite get there, to that place of full acceptance. But while we are waiting and working and fighting towards that place. While we are learning how we will ever live our lives again we need something that is constant. Something that is forever unchanging. Something set in a pattern and repetition for as long as time. Something where you don’t have to wonder and question what comes next. Sometimes we need to start with a simple breath. A deep inhale of outside air. Free of conditioning and human manipulation. The same air that nature has perfectly made to travel through our lungs and give us life.  A hand or bare feet to feel the green grass and the steadfast earth. Constant and unchanging. The ground keeping its eternal promise to hold the cool moisture of early morning dew. Sometimes it takes sitting there in the quiet, the stillness, a place you think is abandoned and unmoving. Being still enough to hear the quiet bustle of life you have never taken the time to notice before. Slowly becoming overwhelmed with the realization that the earth is never truly idle. A chickadee, a canary, the steady bumble of bees. Driven on with an instinct so deep within them to meet there own primitive needs. Unbothered by a world beyond their own control. A sunset that has given way to the moon on a twenty-four cycle for all of time. Sometimes it takes an immersion in something so deep, so everlasting, and so untouched by our illusion of control that your world may never quite be whole. but it will be bearable, it will be livable, it will feel like life again.

 "There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature - the assurance that dawn come after night, and spring after winter." - Rachel Carson

The woods and fields has always been my place of healing. The place I escape to when I need to feel grounded. I was lucky enough to grow up having stretches of ground to escape to. When I moved away I remember feeling completely off balance because I didn’t have that nature to escape to. The True Blue Flower fields are now my place to be surrounded by the healing "refrains of nature." and I want it to be a place where others feel at home to do the same.  It doesn’t hold solution, or fix all for the soul. But simply offers a place to and feel and let your emotions take hold. A comfort found in the constance of nature that little else can show.

Last week on her dear daughters 2nd birthday, a sweet friend of mine found out the cancer she has spent the last year fighting was back. What she thought would be years of watching her baby grow was reduced to days with one simple PET scan. She handled the situation with a grace and strength that is hard to fathom. While our sweet Stephanie found her peace on November 18th, her husband, daughter, and family are faced with learning to live life without her. If you would like to show your support to this very deserving family, A Thrill of Hope Gala will be held on December 17th in Frazee, MN. The her story and the link to the Gala can be found below.

True and I have had a laid back little week. Wreath making has kept us busy in the house. I collect the vines from our yard and soak them in our bathtub so they are pliable. True is busy helping and makes sure the vines have rubber duckies to keep them company while they soak. What a kid. I have found a fun little unexpected outlet for my wreath making. I will be doing make and take wreaths and center pieces for Holiday Glam at The Barn at Dunvilla. I will also be making wreaths to sell at Forest Edge Gallery in the coming weeks. I am looking forward to both and will keep you posted!