Thursday, July 05, 2018

Reviviscence

Image result for phoenix
(borrowed from the web)

(Reviviscence - I love finding new words. Thesaurus.com is my writing best friend)

[rev-uh-vis-uh-ns]

1620 - 30; Latin: revivisc (ere);  to come to life again; re - re + viviscere, inchoative of vivere to live; see revive

1.  The act or state of being revived; revival; reanimation.

2.  Come back to life; awaken from hibernation.

Awakening from hibernation somehow seems appropriate to bringing life once again to this blog.  While its beginning is rooted in my journey moving through shadows upon the death of my husband, and children’s father; it is not the sum of who I am.  Having wrapped myself in the loving, healing cocoon of an online widowed community for many years, I linger no more in a void and feel need to incorporate my second phoenix into this space. 

Thus, it is time for this small speck of cyber-space to reflect life where it is and how it is being lived.  I aim to be no one’s guru, nor to tell anyone how to live.  My goal is to reflect upon what makes my world what it is and how I see it.  Should you choose to visit the pages of the past, be warned that there be the demons of darkness, pain, and bone deep sorrow amid the scattered shards of light and strength gained to a path to where I now stand.  I ask for no sympathy for that previous life; I am no one special that death and its attendant sorrow should not visit me.  The truth is that I will miss Jim until the day I no longer draw breath, but have worked hard to step into a renewal of joy, life, my ever growing crazy little family, and the gift of a second love who adds comfort and laughter to my days.

And, so it is that I will begin with reflections on the unexpected, magical serendipity of two remarkable days amid the ordinary that make up my life:

Days come and go ordinary in their sameness, but nonetheless noted in having passed.  Yet, every now and again come a short span of hours, that while neither famous nor newsworthy, are spectacular in how they touch the soul.  Two such in a row have passed that are marked upon my heart as Remembrance Days.

Tuesday afternoon we had a serendipitous surprise visit from my late husband’s brother and his wife.  We’ve not seen them in ages and, yet, it was as if it had been only yesterday…as our entwined lives have ever been.  These two have become both family and friends since I first met them in 1970 as a shy young woman about to marry into the family.  I am so grateful for their love, tender mercies, memories and laughter.

Yesterday came the gift of family in the form of my daughter and her youngest step, Miss Beks (who has the most startling blue eyes, infectious smile, loves being weird, and adores her Nana and Pop-pop); my GrandMunkee, her partner, and her little troupe of my two adorable and very busy pixie great-grands; my ever feisty 89 year old Mum with her wicked sense of humor; and, my Handyman who makes me laugh every day.  The absence of other members for whom work and other factors kept them away was noted in the silence where their contributions normally would be. 

It was a delightful, if sweltering, afternoon of food, laughter and tiny voices filling this old house, soaking the memories into its patient, ever listening walls.  It is marked on my heart as a Memory Day to pull out and review when the hard days come.  The evening ended as the sight, sound, and smell of home fireworks began to fill the neighborhood.
  
We are an aging tiny little rural subdivision in an old cow pasture down in the elbow of Podunk with few children living within its confines.  It was a pleasant bit of nostalgia that my also vintage neighbors were sharing their own festivities with their grown kids, grands and, mayhap, great-grands.  I am beyond grateful and feel equally blessed that my own chose to spend their time here in this space at the end of the cul-de-sac we call Casa de Chaos.



Thursday, May 24, 2018

Dancing Away with my Heart





“Dancing Away with my Heart”*

In thinking what I’d say in this post marking your 16th year away from me, I have written and re-written words that while true don’t quite capture the essence of you and the impact of that upon my life...although, I have quite likely written something similar over the previous years of marking your absence in the lives of those who love you.

Then this song came on the radio immediately transporting my mind back to 18 and our first meeting where you “danced away with my heart.”

We were so young…so idealistic…so full of dreams…you came along at the perfect moment in my life and made it that way for over 30 years.  All the good things I learned about loving and caring came from you and your so unexpectedly non-judgmental way of dealing with the people in your life. From you I learned that I could be me and never have to feel “less than” because I didn’t meet someone else’s notion of who I should be. I’ve always said that my life as me began the day we said “I do.”

Open, honest, funny, loving, generous with both your spirit and possessions…these are the gifts you shared with me and passed on to our children who are more like you with every year that passes.

With that song in mind, I can think of no better things to say than how much I loved you and how blessed my life was to have had you in it from 18 to 51.

I am better than you found me for having been loved by you.

You made me feel 18 from day one to day last. I will always love you and always miss you.

“I haven't seen you in ages
Sometimes I find myself wondering where you are
For me you'll always be eighteen and beautiful
And dancing away with my heart”
*(“Dancing Away with my Heart” - Lady Antebellum -2012)


Sunday, January 28, 2018

12 Years...

since you left this space, made me a widow, our children fatherless and our Grand MunKee without the man who thought the sun rose and set in her smile.

12 years to learn how to wade through the darkness back into the sun and find again joy in the magic of ordinary days.

Not a day goes by that I do not think of you, miss you and love you. It will be so as long as I draw breath.

To you, my dear, and the years we shared together.

You left me better than you found me.



(Funny...or not...this was written 3 years ago and I never posted it.  It's now 15 years and the sentiment is still the same.  I miss you every day.)

Moods

This song has woven itself into the threads of my soul pulling out beloved memories of days gone by:

Perfect

What a give he was. 

And this line says it all..."I never knew you were the someone waiting for me."  


Except, I sort of did as I had dreamt of him all my life.