Too Many People, dig it.

Thoughts from the past float by and stay awhile for this woman sitting
in a wrought iron chair on her house deck.

Memories from Easter Sunday, 2003, come to surface.
Her mother passed on back then and it was a first Easter
without her cooking and planning the day around family.

She sat on the deck of her house, breathing in the pain of the nerve from
a recently pulled tooth,
and breathing out to relax, to let the pain go.

Elmer
drove in---got out of the car with a very tall white Easter lily in his two hands.

He leaves the lily with her, then
continues on to a family dinner
in a Mexican restaurant without inviting her.

Too many people, he explains. She cringes.

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Now, 8 years later, she hears the same phrase again.

She botched the paperwork for a day in a monastery.

Emails arrive with the words
"too many people." She cringes again.
Overfull. Registration closed.

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There is space for both sides of this.

"Too Many People" is another name for boundaries,
limits, rules we need. "Too Many People" is to remember the importance of
saying "no," for our health and well-being.

We cannot do it all, include all, take care of all. In fact,
the body often breaks down, gets sick and says "no" for us. We
get caught up in our projects and tend not to listen to our bodies.
We push ourselves to earn that extra dollar, to go the extra mile.
We sometimes don't know how to say no. It's important not to carry
our duties as heavy burdens. We can lighten the load.

"Too Many People." Dig it. Let's rest in the river.