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| Photo by stux on pixabay |
If only the wind could clear my mind like it clears away the
clouds, blue sky mind, clear and bright. In those moments you can see forever.
But today, the wind blows and the haze remains until a piece
of sad news parts the clouds and for a moment time becomes reflections of the
past and I see more clearly than I have for a while. A heart in pain sometimes
becomes a heart focused. I see her and I see a life pass before my eyes.
A cousin, more like an aunt, a woman who stepped into
motherhood as if it were the most natural thing, is seriously ill. Of course,
she was always a mother, her heart open to all.
Memories fill my mind and even the air around me. Time for a
moment becomes visible as I see the past clearly.
A new mother in the hospital, my cousin holds her child born
with a head full of hair. It probably reminds my mother then of me nine years
earlier, the same head full of hair. My cousin, my mother’s niece by marriage,
welcomed my mother into the family all those years ago just as we were
welcoming this new life.
My cousin gathering us to hearth and home, the whole lot of
us around the tree at Christmas or for fun on a sunny, summer day. Ever
gathering us. Ever letting us know her heart. Letting us know we were always welcome.
Love found her again and she gathered us to her for her big
wedding. The small bush I gave them planted soon after, years later growing
strong. Love and life growing strong.
Love never left her, but when the love of her life passed
from this world, a little of her did as well. And we gathered her into our
hearts.
Her smile holds only a welcome and love. Her love is bigger
than her smile could ever let you know. The news of her illness blows through
my mind and clears away the clouds. I am reminded how important it is to live
and to love. The reminding is a gathering of strength. Again we gather her into
our hearts and know she is love and love heals all.
