Ok, I’m going with, I’m posting the syrupy
mawkish mess of diction that describes how I feel right now and judging from
some of the FB entries, I am not alone, some of you guys are feeling "it" too. I guess it’s
part of the “seasoning” package. "It" all
started yesterday morning; these surprise feelings that come with being human. I
walked into the living room, the front room, the room where Christmas morning
happens and “it” was over. It was already gone except for a few boxes to
recycle and some red ribbon I wanted to keep. The people were gone; people that
came from faraway places and places nearby, the Christmas lights on my dried
out tree were even over, a fuse blew. The day went on and the evening came and I
found myself in my studio painting and listening to Classic Country on the Dawg
(just like I do every Saturday night) and the Highwaymen came on, Willie started singing and I suddenly realized
my four sons are gone too. I know that sounds really silly because they left a long time ago but it was one of those
moments where something that seems very obvious isn’t really and all of a
sudden it registers.It re-registers with the heart, this thing that the mind has
known for a while, now the heart knows and it doesn’t have the linear reasonable
thoughts of the mind. It doesn’t care that that’s how life progresses and all
things are as they should be – scheduled and precise, no the heart doesn’t
think those things, it just feels those little bits of sadness when a mom realizes
her children are all gone, even though they physically left a long time ago.
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| sweetheart rose from my mother |
These
feelings transcend time; they just show up in seemingly random spots triggered
by something – a fragrance, a picture, a conversation, or a Willie Nelson song.
Then the heart takes a tumble and there you are in this sentimental mush
missing someone. I think it’s necessary though, this random passage through mush,because
I want to remember all of the people in my life past and present and this time
of year is a hotspot. My mother died on August 20, 1997 – right before the
holiday madness. I thought I would not be able to get through Halloween- that’s
where my kids trick or treated and she dressed like a witch and how could we have
Thanksgiving, she prepared the tom turkey and we sat in her dining room as a
family and forget about Christmas Eve, going to her house each night before Christmas
was the tradition. Obviously, I did get through those times; we pulled
together as a family and it was okay. Whew! Well, at about 11:00 New Year’s
day 1998, I was walking to the wood pile in my yard and it hit me – this sentimental
feeling that is hitting me now. There was no warning, no real cause, just a
flood of emotion hit and it was all about her – it was all about beginning the
first year of my life, 1998, without my mother in it. It brought on a stream of
tears and a consequent river of memories, all tied to her. I spent most of the
day there in that soppy place but after it was over, I felt much better. These bouts
of extreme sentiment are here for a grand purpose – they cause you to reflect
and remember and that is how we keep people with us - through reflection and
memory.I call it a spiritual visit.
I suppose nature knows how to bring on
these bouts of emotion when they are needed. We are too busy, it seems, to go
there on our own. So, we run into situations that force us to get knee deep in
sentiment and when we do, I think we need to just go with it and be there for a
while. Anyway, just posting this because I can guess that everyone reading this
has a sort of void in their hearts on this cusp of the New Year,we all miss someone, I get that
from reading your posts on FB. Isn’t it beautiful to remember though and if it
means stopping a bit and crying or calling someone and telling or sitting here
writing, it is what we should do. It’s how we keep people in our hearts when
they can’t be here physically. Or, like our children, when they have gone into
their own lives, as they should, and things are not as they were, it helps to
remember those times that were their childhoods and admit that this passage is
both joyous and disheartening for parents. We easily celebrate the joy but the
counter emotion of soppiness should be addressed also, for it is just as real.
Writing
this has helped me through this sentimental journey and I feel much better as I
type out these last words. I hope to begin 2013 with a stronger take on how
happy I am for my four sons, how happy I am that they are having their own
lives. I know, like you know, I will always miss some of those moments when
life was different. I will go with these seemingly random bouts of emotions that
old songs and New Year’s Eve can cause and then I will go on into the “here and
now” remembering that today will one day be yesterday.
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| there are so many memories to find inside of a fireplace... |
We're living in our eloquence, another old lang syne"
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