Hope Archives - Marci Darling

Holidays for the Aching

November 28, 2025

I’m still waiting for a holiday to roll around that doesn’t make my heart ache. I thought it might be this one but I woke up this morning to that old familiar ache, the one that makes me want to pull the covered over my head and only emerge when the holiday is over, the kind of ache that feels like searching, yearning, for what was and will never be again.
I miss the shared language of my Beloveds and the way they anchored me to this world, shaping who I am.

Toulouse Lautrec

July 13, 2025

But what did I love so much about Toulouse-Lautrec? What drew me to his story, his art, besides the fact that I knew if I were alive back then, we would have been friends. (I never longed to be one of the “society girls” parading about in stiff silk skirts and spending my days swanning about, dressing for meals. No. I would have run away to the Moulin Rouge and spent my days practicing my high kicks in frilly knickers.)

Tragedy Jukebox

July 21, 2024

At any given moment, my brain is a tragedy jukebox, saying, “Hmmmm, which tragic moment shall we replay in elaborate detail for Marci right now?” Heart-shattering memories slice into my daily life with wild abandon, as I am forced to relive overwhelming loss. So I

Looking for Miracles: On the Road with the Movie

May 27, 2024

It was quiet, with only the sound of the river. I have spent my life looking for miracles, so when Sharon and I were driving down the desert highway in New Mexico, with cell service long gone and our only entertainment the gallivanting tumbleweeds crossing

Haponopono: A Few Little Words that Changed My Life

March 10, 2024

I hesitate to share this story because it’s so deeply personal, but when something has this big of an impact on me, I want to share it, just in case there’s someone out there who can relate. A few weeks ago, as I sunk into

Two Dresses and a Spinning Wheel

December 14, 2023

I spent this morning going through my closet, looking for two dresses: one to wear to a wedding and one to wear to a funeral. Sigh. This grand pageant of life can feel less than grand sometimes. I have a whole team of people I

Jolabokaflod- An Icelandic Book Flood and Signing at the Wenham Museum

December 11, 2023

Hello My Darlings!! I recently learned that Iceland has a dreamy Christmas tradition involving the gifting of books on Christmas eve, followed by a night of hot chocolate and reading together by the fire. This is my idea of a perfect night (I would add

The Wild Adventure of Parenting a Rockette Rabbit… I mean, Theater Kid

November 29, 2023

My daughter is getting her college degree in acting in New York City, and it fills me with endless delight to hear about her curriculum.“How was school today?”“It was great! We went to the Central Park Zoo.”“The zoo? Why?”“To pick out an animal.”“To pick out

Pumpkins

October 31, 2023

Today I finally understood why Cinderella was transported into a magical realm by a pumpkin. I can’t believe these big round orange magical things grow from tiny seeds into sprawling vines and then sprout these incredible fairy tale globes, the very essence of growth and

The Unhealable Wound

July 30, 2023

It looked like she was some sort of goddess scattering starlight made of love-bursts right out of her body to wrap around mine. I think she would like that I am not running from my pain. but absorbing and integrating it into my soul, allowing it to change me moment-to-moment, and knowing that time and space can not separate me from her. I think she would encourage me to keep spinning my stories and assure me that they are indeed, spinning into gold. I think she would like that I have found healing in my Unhealable Wound.

Category: Hope