Some people died. A Peanuts cartoon portrayed Lucy dismissing Linus by supposedly reading him a book. “A man was born, he lived and he died.” There’s much more to be said, ‘cause if oneself is in the middle of “-he lived-“, will my eulogy say on November 14, I looked out at the garden shack and saw around 30” of new snow?
In that chilled vein, Terry, Mary’s sister ten years younger, perished some three months after an auto accident. Josh’s father-in-law, David, passed on after some years of declining health. Another in Mary’s clan, Robert whom I met the summer of ‘22, the father-in-law of the other sister who survived the accident, came to the end of his race. The day before Thanksgiving, our nephew Rick, son of Mary’s brother Chuck, was found dead, presumably of a heart attack. We, living in Anchorage, made none of the memorials.
In February we got to Ft. Collins for Judah’s birthday, and as I write this his sis, Evelyn, turns 9. Josh is still working contract landscape planning, design and costing mostly for the Municipality of Anchorage, remotely. Lindsay has become a wood worker, and creatively so. I’m delighted to pass on any things I’ve learned and see what she’s done. On an October trip Mary and I flew to my sister’s place on Lake MI, and then, with Renee and Pier, down to Beckley, WV, to see our brother Ray. I’d not been to that area of WV since 1967, when he taught at Concord College. For health reasons (and don’t they crop up like pretty little dandelions in our gathering years) he couldn’t make the trip to Harbor Springs this year. Even years he’d come to Alaska, and odd years we’d meet at Renee’s place. On the way back Mary and I revisited Ft. Collins.
In Maui, there was the Lahaina fire. Gigi lives on the central coast, but it affected everybody, and everyone knew someone. Eric’s Turo business took a hit as tourists stayed away. Hard to say enuf kool things about old Lahaina, but the banyan tree survived. Isaac got his driver’s license, and Geneva is taking lessons. Eli’s off to Honolulu for his final years, now in civil engineering. In February we met our grandniece Lucy, finishing up at CSU. This fall, all but Isaac visited Honolulu and met Miranda, Lucy’s younger sister, same year as Eli, both juniors. Isaac stayed with the dogs in Wailuku. We seriously hope to visit in ’24. We were last there just as COVID was taking off in NYC and Milan, but not been back since. “Met” (Lucy & Miranda) is inaccurate. They were all young at our mother’s 100th birthday in 2005.
It appears Mary and I are to move to Ft. Collins. Renee sacrificed a lot to see our mom to the end of nearly 103 years, and that kind of travel for support is best avoided. So, on our trips we look around, and when we sell our truly beloved Anchorage home of thirty six years we should be able to put that right into an equivalent new home much closer to Josh and Lindsay. Maui prices are insane, and any other island has the travel issue.
“Life Magazine” called it quits in 2000, its big years ending in ’72. I had a Life book they published called, “The Meaning of Life,” which quoted, with Life-like photographs of suitable sources (Trump was omitted), personal views on life. Notable views and quotes can seem more relevant or accessible than things in the bible. So much of what Jesus says is in parables. I’m a fan of the “Tao te Ching”, but what our savior says is at least two levels deeper, thus opening the way for the gnostic traditions, (not very unlike Plato’s academy and the sophists of his time or Scientology in our time) who, for a buck, will reveal it all to you. The truth of what Jesus says and your understanding of parables are conjoined and free, understanding along with knowing truth at the same time. (The physicist in me thinks of the electric and magnetic components of electromagnetic waves. That doesn’t help?) A parable can mystify one for years. And what the priest or minister or writer says for commentary, may not be what it means to you at all. All in good time, all in good time. Enjoy the sense of open wonder until enlightenment.
Children understand intuitively what adults take a lifetime to re-understand. Understanding in both cases is a gift; the gift of innocence, and the gift of grace. You don’t earn grace. It’s a gift, too. All one can do is cultivate a nature of openness. Can we receive Christmas as a child? In a manger? (Joseph, please keep the cattle from lowing.)
Susan Tedeschi’s “Looking for Answers,” is another ways to look at it.
How many times must I learn to live
How many times must I learn to love and forgive
How many times must I get down on my knees to pray
How many times must I pray did you say
Well I’m lookin’ for answers, lookin’ for answers that nobody knows
Well I’m lookin’ for answers, lookin’ for answers that nobody knows
Well I’m lookin’ for answers from above not from below, Lord
Lord, I love you in so many ways
Lord, I love you each and every day
Now is the time when I must ask you why
Why must we live and why must we die Right ?
dandelions are free 