The Ones I Carry

To my love,

the keeper of my softer dreams,

the one whose light

still warms the chambers of my soul.

You share with God the quiet places in me,

the ones that ache for meaning,

the ones that feel like home

because you exist in them.

To my children,

faces bright as morning,

laughter stitched into my ribs.

You are the reason I rise,

the reason I reach,

the reason the world feels less heavy

than it should.

To my brothers,

the wild three,

forever my babies

no matter how the years change us.

Distance cannot loosen

what blood has written.

You live inside the walls

of my heart’s oldest room.

To my grandparents,

who raised me in the warmth

of their steady love,

teaching me that belonging

is not a place

but a way someone holds you.

Every kindness you offered

became a stone in my foundation.

To my parents,

now walking separate paths,

yet both the spark

of this long, complicated journey.

Passion brought me into this world;

may it still guide you

toward the love you deserve.

To all the others,

too many names

woven through a single lifetime.

Those who stayed, who left, who changed me,

you shaped the woman I’ve become

in ways subtle and indelible.

And to myself,

the lucky one, still here, still learning.

Hold them close

before the world shifts again.

Cherish the ones who show up.

Life ends quickly,

but love, when tended, does not.