JanDunlap.com

Lord,

Help me remember, when I feel it’s a chore,

the time will come when I’ll hold her no more

asleep on my chest (the crib refused,

the blanket, the pacifier, gone unused).

What better place is there to lay her head

than against my heart, my arms her bed?

For infants grow up and leave us behind

with only memories left to remind

us of midnight walking and predawn rocking,

of soft, helpless babies unable to sleep.

So, Lord, make me patient and keep me awake

while I cradle this child, and don’t let me take

for granted the moments I spend in the night

with this baby — Your gift, my joy, my delight… ...more...

In the online business and professional writing class that I teach for NMSU, I always remind my students that business writing can have a very long shelf-life, and consequently, you don’t always know who will see it over time. It’s a cautionary guideline to be very conscious of what you’re writing – sort of like those emails or twitters that get seen by the wrong person. You just never know where your words are going to wind up.

Yesterday I got to experience that personally, but thankfully, in a very good way. I got an email from a woman blogger who asked my permission to include a poem I wrote in 1995 in an online book she’s working on. Her book will be inspirational quotes and poems for mothers… ...more...

We have been preparing for the mission for months. My partner and I have learned to respond to each other’s slightest moves. The strategy of attack has been mapped out, all avenues explored. The possible routes have been thoroughly scouted and the execution of the task rehearsed endlessly. If the need arises, the unforeseen happens, we can, at a moment’s notice, alter the plan to one of multiple alternative options for implementation. Our goal is to attain the objective within five minutes, then return to home base in less than ninety seconds.

There are those who doubt us, who believe the mission is impossible, but it can be done. I am confident of success. The hard work of the last five months has not been in vain. Failure is… ...more...