Right before this New Year began
I read through a dozen years of appointment
books that sat in a wicker basket on a shelf
in my den. I had hours for contemplation,
a rush of remembrance, sadness, joy.
This is what I learned.
There were days rich with memory
of the many thoughtful lunches with friends
still in my life and reminders of people
who’d dropped away thru death or desire.
Looking through the pages I acknowledged
far too many hours in work – though
creative, productive, and highly satisfying.
Good to see I enjoyed NYC and attended
theatre, concerts, dance and showed up in
museums and even to the circus – 3 years
in a row!
Noted visits with my small family system,
had some recognition of men’s names from
occasional dates – though disappointingly,
no hand clings to mine.
A review of the years confirm I have dealt
with adversity and loss. Growth has been
hard-won by fully embracing, challenging
and respecting ALL of my life. I am grateful
for riding the waves.
Jane Seskin is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and the author of 13 books (most recently the poetry collection “Older, Wiser, Shorter: The Truth and Humor of Life After 65”.) She’s also written nonfiction articles and poetry online and for national magazines and journals (20 poems published in Cosmopolitan Magazine, five poems in Woman’s Day. Eighteen of her posts have been published in the Metropolitan Diary column in the New York Times.) Jane has been a writer-in-residence at the Vermont Studio Center and Noepe Center for Literary Arts. She has also been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Ms. Seskin is a practicing psychotherapist, who counseled survivors in individual and group treatment at the Crime Victims Treatment Center in New York for 20 years.
In her free time, she enjoys the theater, walking by the Hudson River, visiting with friends, reading poetry and mysteries (Louise Penny, David Baldacci, Donna Leon) and listening to jazz (Keith Jarrett, Houston Person, Chris Botti). Give her a piece of bread and butter and she’s a happy camper! Jane wrote therapeutic sound-bites on Twitter under the title: “Emotional Band-Aid. Small Steps for Change.” Find out more about her at her website.
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