Mahala! Mahala!

The first of September marks a new orbit for my one and only sweet baby girl, Mahala. Love of my life. Incandescent beacon of light. Beloved creator of all her art. 

Her entrance in my life has anchored us to our lifetime vagabond homes, wherever in the world life brings us. Her presence is a constant source of delight and pride, awe and wonder, grace and glory. 

on one of our many memorable travels

As I was journaling this morning I listened to a new interview of Arundhati Roy - international literary star and vocal political activist - a woman of substance whose work Mahala and I admire deeply and read voraciously. 

We can track our life and progress through the years and the writing she shares with us. Her Booker Prize-winning novel “The God of Small Things” was an early groundbreaking novel we shared together. 

traveling together through time

The story opened a mysterious magical world far beyond the borders of our lived experience yet totally entrancing. Over the years her essays and struggles kept us rapt in raptures of raw issues and fierce resistance. 

Years later, after that first work was already a classic - we were surprised with the arrival of "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness." Transported along through years in search of a place of safety - in search of meaning and of love. 

our three generations

Now she is launching a new memoir that traces her personal and complex relationship with her mother, "Mother Mary Come to Me." A fierce and formidable force of work, it is an ode to freedom and a tribute to thorny love and savage grace - tacking through a lush life both as woman and writer.

These three masterpieces mark stages of our lives as well - Mahala and I. Challenges and struggles, flight and fight, success and triumph. All precious and beloved - in an ongoing journey that grows clearer and more valuable each moment as years unfold. 

a shared moment of quiet mindfulness

Happy Birthday to you Mahala! Sun and moon and stars rejoice with me as I bask is the bounty of being your mother in this lifetime. My true and eternal treasure.