Sweet.

In the early days of spring, when the night’s temperature reaches a long-anticipated 32 degrees, something magical starts to happen in the forest.

The sap of the maple trees starts to flow.

Dedicated sugarmakers tap holes into the trees, attaching containers to collect the sap. They wait patiently for the containers to fill. Once filled, they pour the sap through filters to remove bugs and other debris. The filtered sap is then ready for the next step—boiling. Boiling can take hours upon hours, while the water slowly evaporates from the sap, transforming it into the tasty delight we call maple syrup.

So sweet!

But sweetness has a bad rap. Like cotton candy or an ice-cream sundae with 10 different toppings, sweetness can sometimes seem over-the-top, forced, even fake. Sweetness can be equated with being naive, shallow, weak. It’s easy to lose sight of its depth and intricacies.

But I am here to take sweetness back.

For it is what I feel when I am with you.

This sweetness, the sweetness I’m talking about, is the kind you feel when you see a spectacular sunset or a colorful rainbow.

Or when your mind is completely blown because, for the first time in your life, everything finally makes sense.

My heart fills with sweetness as I remember how frozen I was when we first met. The voices inside screamed,

“Am I safe? Am I okay? Am I worthy of love?”

And you, tapping gently, waiting.

Patiently filtering out my distrust and insecurities.

Witnessing with an open heart my

…boiling…evaporating…transformation

Until finally, the sweet syrup of my soul

Pouring over

my darkness

my emptiness

my pain

my trauma

Sweetening it all…

Inviting me to taste the deliciousness of my precious life.