Self-Portrait Challenge

I am listening to the sweetest birdsong. It is just after the rain. The birdies seem to be singing for me, to lift my mood. Olivia has such a bad headache today and a fever. The word "headache" and I don't mix well together. Say the word and my heart starts to beat funny. See, it was fourteen months ago that Olivia's best friend Brittney passed away after a courageous fight with a brain tumor and I panic inside whenever Olivia says that she has a headache. I flash back to those months in the hospital with Brittney and how we watched Hello Kitty videos day after day and pulled her in her red wagon around and around the nurse's station. I think of how much pain she was in and how brave she was. I remember when Olivia was about all that would make her smile. Oh, how that little sweetie has been on my mind. Olivia misses her so much. So do I. We talked about her this morning and I am all sad and achey inside still and here it is 4 o'clock.
The birdies, their familiar shapes in the tree, really do bring comfort. They are perched in silhouette on the bare branches against the palest grey sky. A picture. A lovely, lovely picture to hold in my heart to represent the passing of another year, to represent those loved ones who have flown away but whose memories will forever sing in my heart.
The birds sang for a time and then three more came. A chorus, so soothing and needed, filling my whole being with love and joy. It was a gift from above, I just know it.
It was what I needed in another way too. I need to slow down, to stop more often and simply listen, simply breathe, simply be. This is my first New Year Resolution, what I sat down to write about. My second resolution which I had in mind when I took the photo below is to lose weight. I am ready to win this battle once and for all. I think the second resolution is connected to the first and this is why I am going to keep a weight loss journal. I have tried this before, the journal in the picture is actually one I started months ago and I pulled it out and will pick up where I left off. Wish me luck.
I wish you all the best in the coming year. I wish you the sweetest birdsong......Happy New Year.

Self-Portait Challenge