Since What Seems Like Forever

Gatherings today are small, infrequent. 
My immediate family is a baker’s half dozen. 
Others are too far away to join, 
but the door is always open. 
I feel like a child on Christmas morning 
thanks to our gatherings: 
a Sunday dinner at home, 
a Saturday afternoon in the park, 
a birthday party, especially the little one’s,
and just because moments mark our time.
These gatherings give me all I need.
The people I love are safe and near.
No need to blow out candles;
our breath is the wish come true.

From the artist: The idea of gathering never occurred to me as something precious until it was taken from me in 2020. And now getting together with my family has been revealed as the gift of a lifetime for which I am most grateful, and I thank The Apothecary for inspiring this insight.

Mary Vanderwoude discovered poetry when she was 10 years old and wrote her first poem about a wistful leaf blowing in the wind. She vowed to be more purposeful than that leaf. Mary is a journal writer, a former teacher, and a writer with two published New York Times Metropolitan Diary pieces. For years, she has been a hired hand making a living writing and is proud to be doing so at Mount Sinai today. She hopes to continue her journey someday writing novels, children’s books with her own watercolors, and collections of poetry, of course.