irregular

These past few weeks have had their share of ups and downs, trials and triumphs. I suppose that's to be expected as I continue to explore my life post-divorce, in the midst of a new relationship, still learning how to live as a single woman in a world where couplehood is what I had known for so many years. These days, I feel a kinship to this Type I irregular galaxy, this collection of starlit chemicals known as NGC 55. A Type I irregular galaxy has no specific form and is composed of "a very diverse collection of objects." The descriptor informs me that "this highly detailed galaxy portrait [of NGC 55] highlights a bright core crossed with dust clouds, telltale pinkish star-forming regions, and young blue star clusters." (For more info, be sure to visit the website http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090812.html .)

Dust clouds. I travel with dust clouds, sometimes obscuring my vision with scenes of how things once were, how I had thought they would always be. "Always" is an insanely long time; "always" is a course of action doomed to fail in a world where change is the natural state of affairs. "Always" is an imaginary construct, useful only as an adverb. People change, situations change, attitudes change, and time marches on along its axis. I've said it before: One cannot travel back in time to the same place one once was and expect to find one can step right back into that moment. That moment is lost as soon as the next breath is taken. Time waits for no mere mortal, and mortal all are we.

I've been working for a couple of years now on dismantling the dust clouds, allowing my inner light to shine forth more strongly on this new path I travel along time's ever-forward axis. I've gradually worked on letting in more light whilst also creating new light in the form of new adventures for my world. And I've been blessed to have new relationships forged with those stars close to me, those from the past as well as those new to my life. My energy is poured with both hands into new ventures, new spots of brightness to stave off the darkness of night, as I explore new beaches on other worlds.