About Angels and About Trees

Here are my Thanksgiving wishes for family and friends. It is a time to be grateful for being part of all the different communities that make up our lives - families, friends, faith communities, workplace communities, volunteer communities, arts communities, recovery communities and all the rest. And I am part of a community of people who have experienced the loss of loved ones during this year and want to extend a hopeful message as part of this Thanksgiving wish. 

In mid-October as part of a trip to Virginia I took the opportunity to drive the Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park. The Skyline Drive follows the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains for 105 miles north to south through the park. At its southern end it meets the Blue Ridge Parkway which runs 469 miles to Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
 

There are 75 scenic overlooks along the Skyline Drive. It was early in the season of turning colors and the weather was still dry and warm. 

Being above the tree tops reminded me of a poem by Mary Oliver which I would like to share in memory of my brother John Leary Ross who passed in April of this year. He will be missed this Thanksgiving as he is every day by his children, grandchildren, wife, sisters and friends. 

About Angels and About Trees

Mary Oliver 

Where do angels

fly in the firmament,

and how many can dance

on the head of a pin?

Well, I don't care

about that pin dance,

what I know is that

they rest, sometimes,

in the tops of the trees

and you can see them,

or almost see them,

or, anyway, think: what a 

wonderful idea.

I have lost as you and

others have possibly lost a

beloved one,

and wonder, where are they now?

The trees, anyway, are

miraculous, full of

angels (ideas); even

empty they are a

good place to look, to put

the heart at rest--all those

leaves breathing the air, so

peaceful and diligent, and certainly

ready to be

the resting place of 

strange, winged creatures

Thanks for the day that reminds us of the importance and value of gratitude. 

Thanks for sharing in this posting.