My niece, Sarah has a son named Shay. He was born 5 months ago and because of social media, we have the pleasure of watching him grow in awareness and becoming, catching his fresh expressions of discovery every day. He is my daily reset to original joy when the cares of the day cause me to forget that life is truly miraculous.

I can’t help thinking that our ancestors are watching with equal delight from another realm. Shay comes with significant roots in Kyoto. In his beautiful face I see equal parts of Sarah and Al, and then my mother, my sisters, even Sarah’s father. I see the potency of his lineage. It is familiar and/but an utterly new variation. It’s a solemn realization that he is our collective progeny, the continuum of ancestral impulse and unfolding in a new flavor. My heart feels full and round as a pearl, larger with Shay as its newest nacre and luster.

I got up early to watch the eclipse over the ocean. The world was so dark and silent yet powerful forces were moving. The earth’s shadow moved slowly over the fullness of the pearl moon causing it to blush the color of persimmon. My own pearl heart rose to meet the mystery, and so it goes… life flows, we grow and glow and glow and glow.