some thoughts on a matriarch

personal musingsayreÁnna RossMay 15, 2023matriarch, family, masculine, feminine, leadership, changeComment

remembering my mom, Wendy Lou Alford (1940 - 2001)

in the wee hours of the morning 22 years ago today, the Ides of March, my mom left her tired body. after seven years of a rollercoaster ride of hope and despair, and lingering for a month in hospital as she waited for a liver transplant which never came, she took one last look at those of us gathered around her bed and quietly slipped away. she was the same age as i am now.

personal musingsayreÁnna RossMarch 15, 2023mom, grief, remembering, memories, healing, forgiveness, honoringComment

saying goodbye to Buster

our dear, sweet cat Buster sighed out his final exhale Monday morning. it was one of the most beautiful, poignant and heartbreaking experiences of my life - right in there with the passing of some of my dearest humans. it brings to mind the phrase which came to me earlier this year - glorious sorrow.

personal musings, poetryayreÁnna RossDecember 11, 2022Buster, cats, loved ones, Death, loveComment

on supporting queer friends and family… leaning into inconvenience

i’ve been thinking a lot about how i see people respond to friends and family who are making the shift from default binary gender labels, language and expression to less “easily-defined” ones. i have several friends and family members who are on this journey, and it’s not necessarily easy to shift out of a really sticky, cement-like binary paradigm.

personal musings, RE:pairingayreÁnna RossOctober 26, 2022queer, outside the box, rethinking, stretching, honoring, questionComment

for David, who died on a Thursday

last year, on Thursday July 21st, my uncle David left his earthly body.

personal musings, poetryayreÁnna RossSeptember 19, 2022forgiveness, healing, family, ancestors, deathComment

on returning to The Refuge

many of you know that, as 2020 came to a close, i was clear i needed to leave The Refuge. after a year of pandemic and other changes, i could no longer live within the form into which it had morphed. i wrote fairly extensively about our process of leaving The Refuge early last year, but I haven’t really written much about it since then. not publicly at least.

RE:membering, personal musingsayreÁnna RossAugust 12, 2022Refuge, change, home, leaps of faith, repairComment

come in... rediscovering hope in the 12 steps with A.R.T.S.

if you really knew me, i struggle with the word hope. it feels like a very slippery, "go around the board for free" kind of word to me.

personal musings, RE:membering, poetryayreÁnna RossFebruary 24, 2022hope, recovery, 12 steps, artist, remem, come inComment

canary in the coal mine

if you really knew me, you’d know that lately i've been utterly overwhelmed by the sheer immensity of the words in my head and, in equal measure, the paralysis of self-doubt. on a nearly daily basis, i hear the opening lines for probably ten blogs. then i get busy (in other words, distracted, or, more honestly, avoidant) and don't write a single word. i have so many pieces started and very few finished. about all kinds of things- climate crisis, social justice, my personal journey.

RE:membering, personal musingsayreÁnna RossAugust 30, 2021healing, overwhelm, avoidance, extinction, climate crisis, canary in the coal mineComment

leaving The Refuge... a poem

we’ve been in our new home, “the Nest,” for exactly one month now, and to be honest it's been so healing for me in so many ways. there’s a multitude of new poems pouring out

personal musings, poetryayreÁnna RossApril 13, 2021Refuge, change, sunrises, healing, homeComment

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