Now that Christmas is a memory and a new year is sneaking in, I wanted to say hello to my favorite internet friends and wish you only the best for 2010. Dream big and don’t let the world snatch them.  Like snowflakes in south Texas, your dreams and wishes are rare and beautiful, something to be honored and cherished.  Whatever they are, hang onto them no matter the odds. We’ve heard about the stinking odds, a million times over.  But I’ve never been one to listen and I hope you don’t either.  I’m rooting for each and every one of you this year.   Hang on tight to your dreams. It’s going to be a lush ride!

Speaking of snowflakes, we recently had some in south Texas, which made many smiles appear.  My daughter Grace and I ran outside and twirled in the stuff like crazy white women. When we ran out of breath we pulled chairs together and let the snow powder our hair white.  I’ve lived in Texas for twenty-two years and have only seen this amazing sight twice before.   In honor of that special day, and our dreams, I wanted to share a poem I wrote.

Snow Stars

One day in south Texas snow came
Like silvery white stars, aching to fall,
On  conifer branches and girls twirling,
Dark hair frosted white, the aroma of wintergreen,
Down from heavenly places

Slipped quietly through the sky,
Flakes bursting and descending,
Shimmering on rooftops, glittery, glittery snow,
Like silvery white stars.

Dearly beloved, we gather together on this summer’s night to celebrate a union. Observe there are no chairs. The lawn is strewn with blankets. Please choose one which suits you. Lye back and view our natural lighting, black velvet glittered with stars. Listen, natures orchestra just arrived, frog bassoons and whippoorwill violins, flying from trees to hands and nesting there like wild poetry.

On our blankets, the world proposes. An onyx sky flecked with diamonds, the ring. Proudly wear your jewels, for you are now married to eternity. Until death do us part does not apply. Who’s to say when we depart we are not flung into the sky? Permanent jewels at long last.

Flaming up night.

And by day, lolling on soft cloudy beds.

Look at the billions of stars! Shall we not all gather there? The wild ones, streaking, bold blinking, meek, holding down sky as they held down earth. Finally coming into your own, you crazy, exotic stars.

On earth the lucky are flushed from obscurity, you embedding them on lavish settings, the self imposed coal admiring and polishing them. They sparkle and sparkle, yet desire more. When earth opens its mouth, there they are, rioting with gleam, you mesmerized.  Move along unaware jewel. Prepare yourself for unveiling.

The earth awaits your fanciful arrival. Sky sees your vivid hues and says shine. It knows who you are and has admired you for the longest time. Diamonds, like stars, belong to all.

I now pronounce you men, women and destiny. Night sky makes the declaration, stars sliding over.