You Brave and Glorious Thing

Every once and a while something grabs me and won't let go. This is one of those beautiful things. It was originally posted on FB by Manisha Kushte, on Midwives of the Soul's site, to Warrior Goddess Women with HeatherAsh Amara. Both sites really worth checking out. It is used here with permission. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It was balm for my soul.

How many years of beauty do I have left? she asks me. How many more do you want? Here. Here is 34. Here is 50. When you are 80 years old and your beauty rises in ways your cells cannot even imagine now and your wild bones grow luminous and ripe, having carried the weight of a passionate life. When your hair is aflame with winter and you have decades of learning and leaving and loving sewn into the corners of your eyes and your children come home to find their own history in your face. When you know what it feels like to fail ferociously and have gained the capacity to rise and rise and rise again. When you can make your tea on a quiet and ridiculously lonely afternoon and still have a song in your heart Queen owl wings beating beneath the cotton of your sweater. Because your beauty began there beneath the sweater and the skin, remember? This is when I will take you into my arms and coo YOU BRAVE AND GLORIOUS THING you’ve come so far. I see you. Your beauty is breathtaking.

~ Jeannette Encinias