That being a man does not mean being hard

I will make sure he knows

That a life lived with a closed heart is not a life lived at all

I will make sure he knows

That he must allow the full expression of his emotions in a healthy way

I will make sure he knows

That he does not need to hustle for his worth

I will make sure he knows

That a woman must be treated with the respect of a rose that blooms in the night

I will make sure he knows

Never to touch her soft petals without permission

I will make sure he knows

The strength it takes to be soft

The Only Words That Matter

My father called me his sunshine

He said my smile lit up every room

Then I grew up and into “real life”

Now I’m not sure what happened to the little girl he knew

He always wore a far-off look

As though he had one foot in another world

He was a quiet man

A quiet man who loved his daughters when all they wanted was to be let into that world

On Valentine’s Day, that gentle heart that showed me the meaning of kindness

Slowed its beat until he was brought to his knees and could barely breathe

He crawled up three flights of stairs to the woman he had once called home for 33 years

So she could save the heart she broke

I still remember the sound of silence on the other end of the phone when I answered my mother’s call

She choked on her words, and I stopped hearing after “heart attack”

Next was the sound of my beat-up tires screeching as I raced through traffic

Until I could place my hands in the ones that had carried me all my life

When he finally opened his eyes, all either of us could say was, “I love you”

And suddenly I realized this quiet man had always said the only words that mattered

I love you

I love you

I love you

The Answers Are in the Questions

Every day, she asked Life the same questions:

“What does this mean?”

“Why am I here?”

“Where am I going?”

“Will everything work out?”

Exasperated by her questions, Life came down and handed

her a book. “This book has your entire future inside of it.

Every twist and turn, love and loss, success and failure,

down to the last detail until your death. Read it if you wish.”

Life walked away, leaving her with her future in the palm

of her hands. She looked at the closed book for a while,

feeling its weight. She could open it and know every little

detail, down to when she would die. She realized that

sometimes the answers exist within the questions

themselves, and a world without mystery was a world

without hope. She surrendered the book back into Life’s

hands, along with the worry that had consumed her mind.