Dear Field,

Thank you to Wikipedia for the photo.

You know I wanted to avoid you.  And yet you drew me.  I can not view you as wasted...even as I see your pain...because your pain teaches me what I no longer want to see happening to you or others of our kin.  You who were so rich and green at one time, how could we do this to you? We the humans, who are called "conscious and aware"!!  How can you not hate us?..What would you want to say to us dear field?

Dear human,
Thank you for being willing to not see me as wasted.  Even in the depths of my pain I am alive and there is hope.  Hope that you as humans will see, truly see what you are doing and begin to change.  Just as you often say ..when things seem at their worst..some good can come.  That is my gift to you, the gift of potential and possibility and the HOPE that you will not throw it away. In time I will be renewed..just as each of you, with time..are renewed and renewed, if you are open to that renewing.  Nothing is wasted dear one..nothing ..human or otherwise.!!

Whew!! dear field..you took me to a place I would never have thought a field could take me.. to possibility and potential...thank you and may I honor you by honoring my own potential and sharing with others what you have taught me and just how precious you are.

Dear "Little Manatee"

From the first day I saw you and your mom I loved you. You tugged at my heart and I've held on to your picture for years.. I couldn't and still can't let you go.  What is it that you touch in me?  Do I even want to know?  I'm not sure what I feel as I watch you and your mom in so tender a moment.  A longing that is deep.. one that I've been afraid to name for years.. a sadness and something so fragile..

I have such an active and vivid imagination  and a sense of drama that I don't want to magnify or lessen what I yet cannot name.  I'm not sure if my focus is on you..or your mother..or both

I see such tenderness, such a delicate, gentle,  life giving bonding, embracing, attachment..connection.

Mother nursing her child..is their a part of me that never knew that bond?  Is that what attracts me so?

"Little One", so small, vulnerable, dependent, connected, bonded, embraced!!!  Your gentle nursing is touching something I can not name...

I was not in a place to ask for your response.. and yet now.. I ask.. what would you say to me..Mom?.. Baby?

Little One,

As mom I would say, yes that bond was there but as you said it was fragile...fragile but not lost..yet probably not strong enough for you to truly know it and feel its security as you see with me and my little one.  I'm glad we were able to touch that space within you and thank you for being open to our gift.  Your deep gentle love brings us much joy.

Dear "little Manatee and Mom"; with even more time gone by ..I would now name the longing you evoked in me as "a longing for belonging" which after so many years I am allowing myself to name, acknowledge, heal and be open to the many places of belonging in my life and the place of Ultimate Belonging ..the very Energy of God..The Ground of All Being!  Thank you for gently moving me toward that realization! 

PS. A note about the picture. After going on line trying to find a picture similar to the one I originally used for this sharing with no luck.. I took a picture of a copy of the picture.  That is why it seems less clear. For me it still captures that longing that was awakened in my heart waiting to be acknowledged and healed.