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

leaving The Refuge

for my first blog of this year, i had every intention of writing something different- something inspirational and uplifting. however, in one of many “ah ha” moments i've had in these first few days of 2021, i realized that i cannot, in earnest and with deep fullness, begin anything new without clearing out the old.

personal musingsayreÁnna RossJanuary 19, 2021Refuge, goodbyes, transformation, grief, love, choice, destiny, faith, memories, new era, remembering, trustComment

the days of bittersweet

in three days, my daughter and her family are moving 1,000 miles away.

RE;generating, RE:membering, RE:pairing, RE:thinkingayreÁnna RossSeptember 3, 2020family, separation, grief, deep adaptation, black lives matter, climate crisisComment

Earth Day in the time of pandemic

with millions of people around the world “sheltering in place,” we are not gathering in the ways we usually do for this annual event. but there is something deeply thought-provoking, even reassuring, about not being able to do that today. for those of us who have enjoyed the privileges (usually unacknowledged and assumed) of “normalcy” for far too long, we are being given a unique opportunity to reassess everything about our way of life. if we can be awake to the moment.