Persephone Returns

Can you believe March is almost over? It’s been a long, dreary winter, and I’m sooo ready for spring. Bring on the baby animals and blossoming daffodils. Bring on the balmy breezes and that muddy, earthy smell that lingers after God cries. Ahhhhhh. What a time to be alive. And mother — I can hear her calling…

I’m feeling a renewed sense of hope as the weather warms and my SAD symptoms slowly dissipate. So, instead of crying or sleeping, I’m writing this at 10:00 p.m., listening to Sky Daddy’s tears beat against the side of my tiny New England farmhouse. My desk is cluttered with a menagerie of colored pens, highlighters, and lipstick tubes. To my left sits the December 2024 issue of a professional nursing journal, my desk lamp, and a gum eraser shaped like a piece of fried chicken. On my right are more pens, a pair of gold hoop earrings, a planner, and a pocket-sized copy of Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much. I picked it up and turned to today’s date – March 16.

This is what the page reads:

“TEARS

I have been told that crying makes me seem soft and, therefore, of little consequence. As if our softness has to be the price we pay out for power, rather than simply the one that’s paid most easily and most often. – Audre Lorde

Our tears and our softness are not valued much in this society, especially in the workplace. In the past, women have been led to believe that we could gain indirect, manipulative power through our tears and our gentle willingness to take care of others.

Many modern women have rejected using our tears and our gentleness to get what we want. Unfortunately, this rejection of our gentler side has resulted in our trying to appear tough and aggressive and in our losing our wholeness.

            We are neither all soft nor all tough. We just are.

SHARING my tears and softness is an act of love. Sharing my strength and assertiveness is also an act of love. When I share me, I am loving.”

Works Cited:

Schaef, A. W. (2004). Meditations for women who do too much - revised edition (Updated ed.). HarperOne.