about letting go

Spring at last (with apologies to my Prairie-dwelling friends who, by last account, are still shoveling snow). The earth has been getting warmer with each day, revealing tulips (now almost gone), sweet woodruff, cowslip (marsh-marigold), bluebells, dandelion, rosebuds, miners’ lettuce, and many more whose names I don’t remember (anymore).

Two months ago a pair of wintering Anna’s Hummingbirds built an egg-cup-sized nest in the backyard, laid two white eggs (“the smallest laid by any bird”), sat incubating side-by-side all days long; buzzing and trilling back and forth between azalea, flowering current, and sugary feeders. Soon babies hatched, blind and virtually naked, tirelessly fed by regurgitation. Barely 3 weeks on, sometime yesterday, they must have fledged. The nest sits empty now, abandoned, bits of fluff pulling at my heartstrings.

Over in Germany, my older brother and sister-in-law are fading — simultaneously after 60 years of marriage — into dementia. Their granddaughter, bless her, barely 21 years old, put her own life on hold to settle unpaid bills, clean the house, and dispense personal hygiene not always appreciated. She finally closed down the household, packed bare essentials (“don’t forget my dentures”), and delivered the bewildered pair “into care” in the town of our birth. They’re safe now: away from fire risk and food-gone-bad . . . into clean sheets and our younger brother’s medical care. When I phoned before their departure they asked, “Are you are coming too?” 

Alan Watts writes,

“Whether we like it or not, change comes, and the greater the resistance, the greater the pain. . . . Life is like music in this: if any note or phrase is held for longer than its appointed time, the melody is lost. . . . “Let go!” and “Walk on!” Drop the craving for self, for permanence, for particular circumstances, and go straight ahead with the movement of life.” [1]


[1] Alan W. Watts (1915-1973), English writer and self-styled “philosophical entertainer” in: (2018). Become what you are, p. 76.

2023-05-08T10:28:19-07:00April 25th, 2023|10 Comments

10 Comments

  1. Joan 26 April 2023 at 06:19 - Reply

    That’s a lovely blog entry, Peter. You have expressed your observations of life’s comings and goings so gently and positively. What a rare gift the hummingbird nest was! May you continue to find many more joys around you as spring unfolds.

  2. Catherine 26 April 2023 at 07:38 - Reply

    Beautiful Peter,

    ThankYOU,

    Catherine

  3. Sue S 26 April 2023 at 07:43 - Reply

    Thank you Peter for a wonderful portrait of reasons for letting go from baby Anna’s to aging siblings.

  4. Melanie 26 April 2023 at 08:26 - Reply

    Sorry to hear about your brother and sister in law in Germany. Seems their family has a pure caring heart like you Peter.

  5. Mylene 26 April 2023 at 09:09 - Reply

    Miss you dearly my friend, reading your words makes me miss you even more. Beautiful blog post. What a gem you are. Much love and blessings.

  6. KME 26 April 2023 at 09:30 - Reply

    Ditto to what Melanie has said. <3

  7. E and G (on the prairies) 26 April 2023 at 09:41 - Reply

    Thanks for this Peter. It is a an excellent reminder that in life we are always “letting go” of things. Some things/people more easily than others. You have a great ability to observe nature and the world around us – and then draw meaningful lessons from your observations.

    Thank you for sharing them with us.
    And you are correct – we are still shovelling snow here on the prairies! Haha. Take care.

    • Peter Renner 28 April 2023 at 11:53 - Reply

      I now have a spare snow shovel: only plastic, but yours if you wish. Thank you for our friendship.

  8. Denise 26 April 2023 at 09:48 - Reply

    Thank you Peter and for the many blessings you bestow by being and expressing you.🙏
    I love the Alan Watt quote, and so poignant for how I feel lately – and today.
    While the words while meaningful to me, I struggle with “how” to ‘walk on’ or ‘let go’ and embody the movement of life.

    • Peter Renner 28 April 2023 at 11:51 - Reply

      Denise, “how” to let go, you ask.
      Jack Kornfield writes, “To let go doesn’t mean to get rid of. To let go means to let be. When we let go with compassion , things come and things go on their own.”

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