Someday when I leave this earth
They'll need some details from my birth
Who is a better biographer than me
To let all know of my family tree.
Just to get the story straight
I think I need to participate.
No one would ever know
Of fears I had so long ago
How as a child of four
I questioned my Mother from door to door.
Thought I was adopted
but when I learned to read
I found the truth
A birth certificate
Showing that I was
the Baby girl of my parents
Frank and Eunice
Or at least I appeared to be
I needed documentation
Even then
What was I thinking?
My poor Mother sometimes
Covered her ears
I asked so many questions
Had so many fears
School was not fun when I began
I was so nervous I could barely walk in.
The principal looked like a witch
No kidding
What kind of place was this?

It is often said that we have only one chance at life
One time, one opportunity
But in my many years I have had many opportunities.
What is opportunity?  Taking a risk at trying something new.
Getting out of the chair when one could remain seated...
Asking a question when you already know the answer
Then acting upon someone else's suggestion as if it were a novel idea.
I want my life on earth to have purpose
To help others when I can
To follow God's plan
But often find myself at odds with myself
Can't make my mind up
Can't act...too tired, too grumpy, too unsure, too afraid.
This is my life and I am living it however that may be.

Had him since he was a baby sitting on my lap until he grew up
What a baby dog he will always be
This curious Airedale who befuddles me
Outsmarts me
Friends, oh he has friends
Especially people
What a cute face they always say
As he looks at them quizzically or innocently
I don't always tell them that his brain is working overtime
And this seeming charm is a facade.
Escape artist watching me garden and taking off to visit the neighbors
Once ran away during a thunderstorm down a busy road
to be rescued by strangers and taken to a nearby town's vet
Heartbreaking, wondering where he was
Not the last time he disappeared
Once on a mountain hike where only the visioning of a friend brought him back
Now he is twelve
How much longer do I have to be with him
To sense his vitality
His love of life
And love of walks
And love of chicken stuff
He will always be special in my heart and the hearts of others.

Up here on the Iron Range
Where the skies are blue
And the air is cool,
There are those who say
Let's go back to the old way
When mining was king.
And the people still sing,
Our families need the mine
Just like the old time.
What they don't know
Is that ain't so.
The new mines would spew
Sulfuric Acid anew;
The waters would ache
With a big bellyache;
The fish will die
And the people will cry.