June 30, 2025 was WholeHeart, Inc.’s last day as a nonprofit. July 1 was my precious pup Emerson’s sixth anniversary. He passed on our way to the veterinarian after pawing his obituary. In lieu of flowers, donations to WholeHeart were encouraged. Emerson was WholeHeart’s Ambassador of Unconditional Love. He graced many WholeHeart Board Meetings. The love-seeds he inspired will live on. I can palpably feel his precious presence.
Decades ago, I learned that presence is a contemplative way of being in the world. Poet Naomi Shihab Nye describes contemplation as taking a long, loving look. Emmy was good at that. I thought of him recently when an infectious disease doctor told me after an MRI to pay close attention to my feet. He was referring to recurring ulcerations, not to Emerson, who spent days at my feet while I was reading or writing, always patient with his patient. To celebrate our country’s independence, I am pausing for my paws.
I recently read The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America by Jeffrey Rosen, President and CEO of the National Constitution Center. Rosen, who heeds Abigail Adams’ advice to John to “remember the ladies,” points out that the Founders followed what we consider to be mindfulness practices. In fact, they fretted about a future president who did not devote daily time to self-reflection and self-discipline. They would be horrified by today’s verbal vomit. The author’s favorite founding President was John Quincey Adams. Rosen writes, “Adams’ daily commitment to moral self-accounting led him to transcend his youthful pragmatism and political ambition and to become one of the leading antislavery voices of his time.” Adams himself wrote that “You will never be alone with a Poem in your Pocket.” He understood writing poetry as self-improvement. A book of his poetry was published posthumously.
One of the many benefits of reading and writing for me is that I can do it with my shoes off-- a positive for my paws! I had to laugh when I recently heard Ocean Vuong say in an interview with Krista Tippett, “Take off the shoes of your voice…. The future is in your mouth.”
I am currently reading All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family’s Keepsake by Tyla Miles for a National Society of Colonial Dames of America book group. It is both a heartbreaking and heart-opening story of Black women’s love passed down through generations from slavery to freedom. It reminds me of Lu, my mother’s Black housekeeper, who grew up in North Carolina. She lovingly referred to me as, “my chile.” I spent many hours sitting in the big blue chair in her room while she was ironing, basking in her precious presence.