Cars moved.
Coffee steamed behind the glass.
Somewhere, someone laughed too loudly.
The old man kept walking toward the shop,
carrying all his winters at once.-Mandy Ricks
Winters
The sandbox
In a square of sand beneath a watching sky,
two boys kneel while kingdoms cry.
Leo shapes with open hands, low, wide walls that welcome lands.
His gates unlatched, his edges kind—no need to guard what’s shared in mind.
Don cuts hard with heel and fist, a higher throne, a tighter grip.
His towers climb on narrowed ground, each grain a thing to stake and crown.
They do not speak. They do not meet.
Their borders press beneath their feet.
A restless wind that takes no side moves through their work, but passes by.
Leo mends the broken, and smiles as sand heals the fray.
Don strikes at every chance, even if it won’t give way.
And still they build, as children do—one builds for many, one for few.
-Mandy Ricks
Day
Sometimes the day doesn’t arrive all at once.
It slips in quietly—through the edge of a curtain, the hum of something ordinary, the pause between thoughts.
I used to think I had to meet the day with intention, with purpose, with something to prove.
Now I’m learning to just notice it instead.
The way light rests on a surface.
The way a moment passes without asking anything from me.
Maybe that’s enough.
Maybe some days aren’t meant to be built or fixed or understood.
Maybe they’re just meant to be witnessed.
-Mandy Ricks
Catching light
Sometimes a good day is merely catching light at the right angle.
-Mandy Ricks
Strength
Real strength comes from quiet consistency more than dramatic gestures.
-Mandy Ricks
Listening counts
Some take risks without hesitation, others don’t dare.
It’s cold enough, my legs ache again. Maybe I just can’t stand it today.
This morning I sang along to American Pie. That counted for something.
Dancing in the gym sounds fine to me, though I haven’t decided yet.
When it’s the end, does it still count if the fat lady took Ozempic and isn’t fat anymore?
Listening counts. Being heard matters.
-Mandy Ricks
Today
For the first time in decades
I sit in my house, empty, alone.
It feels okay.
No distracting chatter,
or thoughts.
Just quiet.
Who’d have known this peace
would finally arrive today
of all days.-Mandy Ricks
No refunds
It’s that time of year again —
when we honour a small enduring light, and a higher guiding one.
We celebrate our togetherness,
and pray for our uniqueness.
We talk of fun times past,
and drink to forget the hard times now.
But above all, remember this —
no matter what the monster says,
good people are still good,
and there are no returns on tickets to hell.
-Mandy Ricks
Don’t look at me
“Don’t look at me”,
she lowered her head.
Maybe more makeup would cover her shame.
She barely supposed to walk,
Her drummer is gone.
For sure she will wander,
head down,
most steps mistrodden,
until she can accept herself.
-Mandy Ricks
Those steps
You don’t have to feel ready to take the next step, a big step, or even a small step. You just have to be willing, for a moment, not to step away from yourself. -Mandy Ricks
Monsters
I hope today brings you one step closer to where you want to be and one step farther than where the monsters live. -Mandy Ricks
Grasping
Are you grasping for some joy, perhaps some inspiration? But the dark keeps marching, twisting your thoughts into a spider web. Each tentacle sticking to a thought creating darkness and doom. But fight it , fight it. Because you are much stronger than doom and so much stronger than. One. Single. Thought. -Mandy Ricks
Mandy Ricks 