where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her unless she herself be your way and your guide?

so, you all know that i love my mom to pieces.

if you haven't met her yet, click here to read the most beautiful "i love being a woman" entry.

i think kahlil gibran describes my mom's beauty most accurately:

happy mothers' day to the mothers of all living!

Manifesto Monday: gather

this weekend i attended a baby shower
for a dear friend here in california.

her name is gangotri.
all love her.

part of my gift to her was, of course,
where the wild things are.

as i was just about ready to write myself off as a life-long hermit (my california-life, that is), i was asked to join in a gathering celebrating the up-coming birth of a baby boy. life. motherhood. womanhood. it doesn't get more glorious than this.
i can be funny sometimes...not funny-hilarious, but funny-ridiculous. i was nervous about attending...as far as i knew, i would only know the soon-to-be-mama. my shy-nerves were getting to me. sometimes it is oh so good to be wrong. though i had never met most of the women there, i have known them all for longer than i can imagine. we are soul-mates, heart-mates, women. women who feel the earth breathe, who know of things interconnected. women who laugh, women who know awe.
i watched the conversations and the interactions...a meeting that only women could produce. so much joy. so much heart. so much kindness. the laughter never stopped. the stories kept coming. the questions never ended. who would want to leave?
all of this in honor of gangotri, and her coming into motherhood. i don't know what gangotri's name means. but i know what it means to me: wise, open-hearted, intuitive, intelligent, and kind. she has shown me much love, and it is impossible not to return it.
there is hardly a better reason to gather. this i believe.

on best girlfriends...

andrea and i have known each other since age 15...oh, that awkward age!

a week ago i watched a family-home-video of me at that age

and i was amazed that i had any friends at all!

truly embarassing!

despite my obnoxious high school attitude,

andrea shared almost everyday with me...

willingly!

a true friend indeed!

after high school we went our different ways to different universities,

but we hooked up again to teach english in china for 5 months.

what an experience!

i couldn't have made it without her.

now she has a little family:

married to a wonderful boy

with a beautiful baby girl.

thank goodness we are still friends after 12 years!

thanks for letting me take these photos, 'drear!