"There comes a time in your life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh. Forget the bad, and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who don't. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life, getting back up is living." Posted by Brian B. Hornsby;
I remain standing, slightly embarrassed, that I no longer crumble from grief. Today, your younger son, told his joke for a third time, laughing (your laugh) as hard as the first telling, while slapping his knee when revealing the punchline, just as you. My heart pained but steadied and allowed myself a chuckle. The tears that flowed, without resistance, to mere similarities, remained contained. Even yesterday, as I encountered your passion for pushing boundaries, (specifically, an attack on gravity,) I spied your mischievous spirit as the older, armed the younger, with a parachute (tablecloth) and a plan to jump from the neighbor’s oak tree. Yes, I intervened. And no, even though submerged in sorrow, I didn’t fall.
Today, the younger, hunted his gifts for a puppy and tears spilled from your blue eyes while he sputtered that it was all he wanted for his birthday. The older, eased the younger’s grief (peacemaker like me), explaining “only Santa brings puppies as presents not Mommeys!”
I continue to stand even as I see your expressions overwritten. Again I ponder, “why?” but without succumbing to the crippling grief and guilt…I can stand.
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Caddo Veil said,
23/11/2011 at 16:41
Rich and moving. And painful, in the way that beauty and pain collide in life. (And the picture’s incredible too!)
Thomas Davis said,
19/11/2011 at 22:13
Grief never passes, not really. It hides in cracks and corners and then ambushes you from the brown center of a sunflower hidden in a field of sunflowers, but the courage that comes from simply going on and living life has a song that is as durable as humankind. The photo is wonderful. The post itself is a portrait of the courage of going on.
Cracking Ice « Slowmoto.Me said,
19/11/2011 at 21:59
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Paulann C. Canty said,
16/11/2011 at 01:26
Your post captures the contradictions and rich colors, shades, of loss and life merging. I can only imagine the simultaneous pain and joy that may be present when, having lost your spouse, you see them alive in the face and behaviors of your children. The photo is a great visual, and metaphor, of the vivid color that precedes winter. Thank you for allowing readers to experience both.
zumpoems said,
09/11/2011 at 10:04
Very poignant.
Zyah said,
25/11/2011 at 10:18
That’s way more clever than I was epxeictng. Thanks!
Slowmoto.Me said,
08/11/2011 at 21:39
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Rebecca Carney - One Woman's Perspective said,
15/10/2011 at 11:18
What a beautiful photo. Great post.
Walking in another’s shoes | Slowmoto.Me said,
14/10/2011 at 04:48
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