Fiction and life . . . from the desk of Gwen M. Plano
  • Home
  • Blog Reflections
  • REDEMPTION THRILLER
  • THE CONTRACT Series
  • My Memoir
  • Poetry
  • About

The Way

2/17/2014

0 Comments

 

One of the most important pilgrimages during medieval times was the Way of St. James – El Camino de Santiago. There is no one starting point for this pilgrimage; rather, there is a large network of trails and roads that cross-cross much of Europe. The route is often marked with a scallop shell. With its grooves meeting at the hinge, the shells are a metaphor of the multitude of paths traveled to arrive at the tomb of James the Apostle in Santiago de Compostela, often many months later.

Recently, I watched the movie The Way, which chronicles a father's journey on the Camino de Santiago. What struck me the most was the transformation of the travelers. Each character struggled with one issue or another, and yet as his or her days turned into months, the miraculous occurred. They forgave; they let go; they moved forward with life.

Whether we embark on a physical or interior journey, we travel. And, similar to the hikers on the Camino, it can take months and perhaps years for us to reach that which we seek. Our paths may be quite different from one another, but we share common hopes for peace, meaning, or love; and, it is these ideals that draw us together--and remind us that we are family.  


Picture
0 Comments

Mother earth

2/16/2014

0 Comments

 
NASA's images of earth from space take my breath away. Our beautiful planet appears to be floating in a sea of quiet. There are no distinctions from this vantage point--no Democrats or Republicans; no racial or religious divides; just a little blue planet--alive with color and light.

Astronaut Edgar Mitchell referred to a "glimpse of divinity" when he saw earth from his space window and spoke of "an instant global consciousness." Though I will never see first hand that which Mitchell and a few others have enjoyed, I have a sense of the interconnectedness of life by just living in the Ozark Mountains.

Last night my husband and I watched the full moon first peek through and then rise above the darkened trees. A deer crossed our path, followed later by something small and furry--perhaps a woodchuck. Such simple beauty brings me home to my heart, and I realize afresh why we call her Mother Earth.

Picture
0 Comments

Touching Perfect Love

2/13/2014

0 Comments

 
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you simply, without problems or pride:

I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this,

in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,

so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close.


Pablo Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets   



Picture
0 Comments

Full circle

2/13/2014

0 Comments

 
It is only in retrospect that I have come to see how the journey we travel is circular. Life's summit is elusive because the terminus is also the starting point. Ultimately, any life path we choose brings us full circle. When we meet ourselves again, our horizons may have shifted, our joys may have expanded, and our hearts may have softened. And then we begin again. We travel until we become Love.

T.S. Eliot, in his last verses of the poem "Little Gidding," wrote:

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

Through the unknown, remembered gate

When the last of earth left to discover

Is that which was the beginning...



Picture
0 Comments

Looking back through the years...

2/11/2014

0 Comments

 
Photos of my children are clustered in several areas of my home. When I see my little ones now adults, I travel back through the years. I look deep into the face of the child caught in the photograph and know what awaits him or her. Time becomes fluid, floating between decades; the present melds with the past, and a collage of stories emerges. I see my child, I see the adult he or she has become, and I see myself.

I tried to shelter my children from unhappiness, but life had different plans for them. I realize now that tragedy spares no one; it just courts each of us differently. One way or another, it finds a path into our hearts, and there we do battle with the intruder. Armed with childhood imaginings and with trust in tomorrow's benevolences, we crusade for truth, for meaning, for love--not knowing that sorrow is often the gateway to that which we seek.

When it is time, we walk the corridors of our heart, retrieving the shattered threads of one-believed dreams. Perhaps, long after tears have dried and hope has faded, we find what was always there but not seen--and then our desolation gives rise to a new spring.

Picture
0 Comments

Honoring the journey

2/6/2014

0 Comments

 
While walking our life path, I think very few of us would choose the obstacles presented to us. It is only later, after the storms have passed and the rains lifted, that we see (sometimes dimly) the blessings in our fate. We do not need to condone the circumstances to recognize the steps we have taken toward wholeness through the quandaries of our destiny. But honoring our courage, resilience, and love opens the once-closed door to the extraordinary. And, we see anew--that which was always right in front of us.

Picture
0 Comments

Morning silence

2/5/2014

0 Comments

 
Winter snows cover the barren earth
White - all lies in mystery.
Each moment sounds the call,
And a figure emerges beckoning.
Stepping nearer the ground flowers,
And color follows me.
Meeting in touch, quiet births a song;
The wintery cover is lifted.
Only is purity left in whiteness,
For you have painted the stillness.

Picture
0 Comments
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    For blog updates, please subscribe below. 
    * indicates required

    RSS Feed


    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    June 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. ―Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning


Plano Enterprises, LLC
Photos from Kevin M. Gill, Joel Bedford, qthomasbower, crosescribe, Juho Holmi, diana_robinson, W Presley & B Kunce Photography......WI. USA, U.S. Geological Survey, Ian Sane, florianric, NikoMC, van Van Es, Yen Chao 趙彥, MissMessie, Yuriy Kuzin, Ben Zvan, Bichuas (E. Carton), Nina Matthews Photography, hehaden, alexdecarvalho, Tim RT, Kurdistan Photo كوردستان, Candida.Performa, peddhapati (Thanks for 1M Views!!!), Jhong Dizon | Photography, Waheed Akhtar Photography, lawmurray, USFWS Pacific, JalilArfaoui, SurFeRGiRL30, Lauren Finkel Photography, maf04, SantaRosa OLD SKOOL, Dakiny, vauvau, Zanastardust, Monica's Dad, timpeartrice, marumeganechan, Rafael Acorsi, seyed mostafa zamani, Jorge Franganillo, Irene Grassi (sun sand & sea), The National Guard, D.Fletcher, nada abdalla, Ted LaBar, alison.mckellar, Infomastern, Elvert Barnes, m01229, theglobalpanorama, Sumarie Slabber, denisbin, Go-tea 郭天