Writing with Juliet Iwelunmor

When this captivating year final closes, when its power comes to an end, when you are finally not daunted by its experience, when you are full of gratitude for the simple fruits it planted, then and only then will you hold the year in reverence.

You will find yourself saying a decade of rosary. 5 decades by tall palm trees named after grace. You will sit and stare at the sun and all its flowers, red ones known as flames of the wood. Their unique bright red leaves will keep you grounded for all the ways they year made you hardy and distinctive in appearance. You will hold on to a grace that holds no bar, a loss that doesn’t bind, a wait so still, with motives so clean, that your heart hardens even as it surrenders to love. You will do all that and still say to 2023, thank you for helping me endure all things and change. Thank you for persisting where change was needed and even all I do, no longer continued as I intended. Thank you for being there even in the end. Life did not end, even as all the winds blew. There is a sense of wholeness at the core of life now only the year 2023 could have given to me, its way. That I feel so complete and of one piece, within and without is a gift I will never forget with 2023.

I once read a question, that made me pause for the year that was 2023. Can an ant enjoy life? It marches on it own, up and down with intent and focus. My son and I saw, some while on a walk this year. Yet, I still wonder, can they enjoy life! What keeps them still, even as they know nothing about this experience we all live with it? Love, ripe and full, their way and nothing more. It’s this same love, ripe and full, that I choose to close 2023 with. My way, nothing more.