One of my students took his own life.... I grieved..... and as part of the healing process I wrote the poem "I struggle too" enclosed in a black teardrop
May you rest in peace dear student
I wish I had more time to get to know you better
You shall be missed but never forgotten
Feb 20, 2016
Dear Hugo,
Why do you love me so much?
Is it because I took you in over five years ago, and we’ve been inseparable ever since?
Is it because of all the fun we have when we go hiking?
Or is it because of all the fun we have on road trips?
I love how happy you are to see me whenever I come home.
I love how you sit and quietly comfort me when I’m sad.
I love that you’re beside me at the end of each day, snuggling with me.
And I love that you’re beside me in the morning, breathing softly into my ear, when I wake up.
I love how you can’t stand not being constantly by my side.
Hugo, forget diamonds, you, my dog, are a girl’s best friend!
Love you, forever!
Sarah
Love Letter to my dog Hugo written February 5, 2016 by Sarah J. Nilsson for a radio contest for Valentine's Day on Magic 99.1 - Leza and Ron in the Morning (It was the second finalist!)
Atlantis
I gazed upon your beauty, sweet Atlantis
In the summer of twenty fourteen.
For many years I have waited for this,
For this sight to be seen.
Anticipation as they play the intro.
Like nothing I could ever expect.
Then immediately right after the video,
Without a moment to reflect…
The screen itself parts to reveal,
The most overpowering sight,
As I let out a veritable squeal,
Lest my heart should burst outright!
As if in a dreamlike state,
My feet walk me under her belly.
For it was August eight,
That my legs felt like jelly.
I gazed upon her magnificence.
Tilted at a 43.21-degree angle.
More than three hundred days in space.
Through the crowds I wrangle.
To get closer to her cargo bay,
Open for all to see her positions.
Oh, how I have no words today.
Impressed by her thirty-three space missions.
Hard to wrap my head around,
The 126 MILLION miles in space she flew.
And now she rests on Florida ground,
A sight for me, and you, and you!
And as I gaze, and gaze some more,
As if time for me stood still,
The tears, they started to pour.
I hid behind my husband, Will.
Why was I so moved, I wonder?
Was it because I yearn for space travel?
Or was it that she’d been there, I ponder.
That is the mystery to unravel.
Written by SARAH NILSSON 8-08-14 while standing beneath the majestic space shuttle Atlantis at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
By night
Under a star-filled sky she flew
There was nothing else she’d rather do
Wisps of clouds like a trailing veil
The desert-moon shone large and pale
On cold metal wings high above the ground
The humming of two engines was the only sound
Not a creature stirred at all that night
The earth at rest, a calm and peaceful sight
The roads below, how they snaked their way
Through valleys, and over mountains they lay
Lights sparkled from cities that slept
And the night, onward it crept
Yes, slowly but surely the night passed by
While on silver wings she did indeed fly
No other place on the planet could beat
Sitting up front in the left pilot’s seat
As the beggar can’t describe to the king his pain
As he lies on the ground in the sun and the rain
Nor can I with mere words these feelings express
The undying love of flying I possess
Written by SARAH NILSSON 6-26-02 on a flight from Phoenix to Burbank at about 1.30 am local time.
UNTETHERED
Many people have a dream. Dreams are everyone’s
best friend.
My dreams were like everyone else’s – I wanted to be
happy.
Many years were spent in this pursuit, and many roads
traversed……..in vain
Until I stumbled upon the
joy of flight…….freedom at last
To do the one thing that sets my
soul free
To take to the blue skies on
shiny wings
To soar like the angels themselves
Untethered
Unencumbered
Unburdened
Oh yes, I’ve studied the aerodynamics of lift
Bernoulli and Newton both
Calculated mathematically the performance data
Painfully reconfigured weight and balance
But never do I cease to be amazed
When reaching speed we take to the air
Wheels leave the Earth below
Wings take us upward
We leave our troubles behind
Like a bird that has swooped into the sea
to catch a fish
emerges dripping salt water
but as it continues upward, the droplets,
like painful troubles that burden the soul,
fall downward leaving the bird free
Untethered
Unencumbered
Unburdened
Written by SARAH NILSSON on 4-23-2001 for Embry Riddle class.
THE STORM
In the heat of July
So often I must fly
I leave Albuquerque for Phoenix direct
There are thunderstorms enroute to expect
I take off down the runway in my Navajo
It’s belly stuffed with developed film – my cargo
Twenty miles out and standing tall
Looming gray clouds forming a wall
I’m tearing through the sky
Looking for a clearing through which to fly
At a hundred and seventy miles per hour
While the clouds ever growing, above me tower
With a whisper of a prayer I watch my stormscope
“Let there be a gap,” I silently hope
Soon a ray of sunshine makes a space
I follow that ray – it’s my saving grace
Through the space I go – a bumpy ride
Gray walls of evil on either side
One cloud raises its ugly swollen head
Like a starving dragon waiting to be fed
A bolt of lightning is thrown like a spear
Meant to intimidate me, to cause me fear
The cloud above me, puffy and wild
Spits rain at me like a possessed child
As I cautiously make haste to the other side
Blue skies await me – far and wide
Interlaced with a pure white friendly cloud
Over the White Mountains it lay like a shroud
Passing St. John’s, visibility is at its best
I can soon see Four Peaks to the distant southwest
I advise the controller I have Phoenix in sight
He returns with, “Cleared to land, two five right”
Right on schedule my wheels touch down
My cargo will soon make its way into town
I thank the angels that guided my way
As I made it back safely on this hot sultry day
Written on July 20, 2002 at about 3.00pm on a flight between ABQ, New Mexico and PHX, Arizona
SARAH NILSSON
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