This Place of Wonder

by Barbara O'Neal

I take pride in my ability to be adaptable no matter what.

I just walk. I don’t bring podcasts or music with me. I want to hear whatever the earth has to tell me.

How could someone who said he loved me have done the very thing that would hurt me the most?

Here. Now. In this small space of nowness, I can breathe. I don’t have to be anything to anyone.

Her cooking is a tsunami of love.

There’s something sacred about growing food,

Survival takes a lot of work

The things I didn’t know about myself, or didn’t acknowledge, keep surprising me. That

books are always a source of comfort.

I once read that the smell of coffee has healing properties.

Life is as cutthroat as any jungle, and if you want anything, you have to take it.

I didn’t have to tell anybody anything I didn’t want to tell, that my life and my path were mine to share or not