Putting it all together

The bookshelves in our home our filled with books by amazing activists and visionaries. They have been read many times over but in the last few years have mostly just sat there collecting dust, seemingly unrelated to my present moment as a mother of small children. Because my days are filled with much more mundane tasks, I have begun to ask myself the questions: "Am I no longer that same activist seeking peace and justice? Am I 'just a mom' (such a terrible phrase!) immersed in parenting duties? Is all this just a long push of the pause button until I can resume my place at rallies, meetings, lobbying events? Or is all of this a crucial part of it?" The simple focus of that lens could change everything. For the better.

Time to let go of guilt for not being able to tune in each day to 'Democracy Now,' or not being able to respond to all the emails pouring in from amazing organizations wanting me to write letters, call congress or visit my local politicians, or not being able to attend committee meetings.

Right now, I am home. Home with small children. (As they grow, we will all be writing letters and attending peace marches and doing service work on a more regular basis. And certainly we are still going to do some of that now, just not as much as I thought we would be doing). But right now, I am spending my days getting to know and guiding the little people in my life. I am making peace each day - with myself, my children, my husband, my life at this moment.

All those books and classes and life lessons and jobs and relationships and campaigns and experiences are not lost. And not 'on hold'. The past and present are all part of what I would like to call my 'compost.' Right now, I am compost! Transforming into something new with no clear idea of where it is taking me or what will grow in the garden. So this blog is the 'work' of tending to compost. You can just let it sit there, but it really prefers to be shaken up, given the right mix of browns and greens, some warmth and moisture but not too much. To become black gold, it needs the right combination of doing its own thing...with a little help.

A few times a week, I will come here to tend the compost. I hope to begin to connect the dots. If peace really does begin at home, this is one woman's journey of discovering and sharing how that happens.