and

I assure you
the last two years 
did happen. 

and 

even though
we wrestle with
the burden of 
caretaking

and 

of releasing 
our stories 
from clenched fists 

and

throats
so tightly locked
that hope almost 
choked out of
them sometime around 
the third wave

and

again after
the fourth
or fifth cancelled event,

we are ready 
to take a chance 

and

begin wishing 
that we could stop
wishing for things to 
be different 

and 

we wonder 
if a life
can finally be put
in an order of
our choosing.