<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail_default">How to Befriend Uncertainty <br clear="none"></div><p class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-p1" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></p><p class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-p3" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-s1">Come,<br clear="none">sit a while<br clear="none">in the seat by the window—<br clear="none">near the birds, who have shaken off<br clear="none">their dreams and opened themselves <br clear="none">to this never-to-be-again day.</span></p><p class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-p3" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-s1">Today we won’t be asked<br clear="none">to bumble along the beaten byways. <br clear="none">For Uncertainty has come;<br clear="none">she is our unexpected houseguest.<br clear="none">Put on the water, set out the homemade jam.</span></p><p class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-p3" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-s1">Uncertainty will listen with us<br clear="none">as our bagels pop<br clear="none">from the toaster’s dark mouth.<br clear="none">As the teakettle wobbles <br clear="none">on her deep blue flame<br clear="none">and the coffee grounds weep<br clear="none">their pungent bittersweet sobs. </span></p><p class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-p3" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-s1">The truth, of course, is <br clear="none">that although she’s Mystery’s Child<br clear="none">with no history and no proper name—<br clear="none">she has always been with us. </span></p><p class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-p3" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-s1">If you wake in the night, <br clear="none">you can hear her hum as she busily <br clear="none">prepares our day. She is the one <br clear="none">who wakes us each morning,<br clear="none">to drizzle new questions <br clear="none">into our imagination, new stories, <br clear="none">new colors and light.</span></p><p class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-p3" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-s1">The wind is her breath.<br clear="none">Her body is the water <br clear="none">we bathe in and drink.</span></p><p class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-p3" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-s1">Uncertainty, with the soul of a gypsy, <br clear="none">knows the unpaved roads <br clear="none">to gratitude by heart. <br clear="none">She is our barefoot dancer <br clear="none">come to show us a multitude <br clear="none">of ways to bless the ground. <br clear="none"><br clear="none">But of certain things—<br clear="none">like tomorrow—<br clear="none">she knows nothing, <br clear="none">and because of this, <br clear="none">her love knows no bounds. </span></p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-s1">Come close now…</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-s1">she waits, <span class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail_default">as</span> she always has,<span class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-s1">to give all she has—</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-s1">a love for each of us,<span class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-s1">silver as tomorrow.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-s1"><br></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="ydp2af010cdyiv5276771386ydp301c85bbyiv5832759101gmail-s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span>- Prartho Sereno</div></div></body></html>