I’m not doing it this year. I am not looking for a word to call my own. I am not making a resolution, naming an intention or establishing lofty goals. I am not doing any of it this year because so much feels beyond my control. And maybe this is the way things have always been, but it took a pandemic for me to realize it.

I came upon this poem by Mary Oliver today and it helped to align my past with my future and plop me squarely in the middle of my right now moments. As she shares, the present is what our lives are. It’s not in our resolutions or intentions or goals, but in the right now moments, this right now moment.

Mornings at Blackwater ― Mary Oliver

For years, every morning, I drank
from Blackwater Pond.
It was flavored with oak leaves and also, no doubt,
the feet of ducks.

And always it assuaged me
from the dry bowl of the very far past.

What I want to say is
that the past is the past,
and the present is what your life is,
and you are capable
of choosing what that will be,
darling citizen.

So come to the pond,
or the river of your imagination,
or the harbor of your longing,
and put your lips to the world.

And live
your life.

Reflection from Cherie Shaw, CPE Intern