It is no secret we’ve had a difficult year or so. And that our past two months has been especially challenging. What has made our travails bearable is the community of family and friends that has bolstered us through the hard times. Our Twitter and Facebook Friends. And, mixed in among all of those groups, is the EarthSpirit Community.

I have been a part of the EarthSpirit Community since 1998, the first year I went to their annual festival Rites of Spring, and I’ve attended every year since. I brought Edmund along with me the first year we met, and he loves it as much as I do.

This year we would not have been able to attend Rites of Spring (ROS) without help, we were strapped financially. But we missed the deadline for work-exchange applications, which was on April 1st (the day Edmund’s father died.) I explained our situation, and fortunately we were able to apply anyway; we were accepted.

I am so grateful.

I felt welcomed and enfolded into the community in a restorative and healing way. And by doing a work exchange, I was led to spend more time in community than I had in the last couple of years at ROS. It was just what I needed.

I am grateful.

Although I sometimes forget, I am grateful for my friends and community and family and the love they all show me. I hope I reflect just some of that love back to them.

My heart is full.