Closer than flowers,

... my thoughts that are of my daughters today.

*

Perhaps, even as close as prayers:

For the one who is at this moment flying back to our home city in the Philippines, for the first time in 12 years; but now with her boyfriend to share the journey---

For the eldest daughter, the one we have not seen for 14 years, who is there waiting to welcome them---

For the third oldest daughter, who is two and a half hours away at music school, learning to make violin strings sing and learning the many shapes of her life---

And for the youngest daughter here with us, who is also in her own way preparing for her life though she is only in middle school---

*

May thoughts be prayers.

May hearts always be as capacious as the sky.