The Reminding

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.