Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you from our house to yours.  This is a picture of our Christmas tree this year.  Several of the ornaments were made by my parents and me when I was a teenager.  Dad has passed on.  Mom is slowing down.  I'm getting along.  But, when decorating this tree each year with these ornaments, I am flashed back to the 60's with Mom, Dad and me making ornaments at the dining room table, decorating the tree, Mom making her divinity, and me wondering what I was going to get for Christmas.  In the background, Bing Crosby was singing, White Christmas", Brenda Lee was singing, "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree," and me crying the first time I heard "Little Drummer Boy."  The ornaments on this tree represent the early part of my family and the later years when the ornaments were hung on the tree at my house with my husband and 2 little boys.  And the same music played on.......  Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

Grief

Hello Folks.  A friend of mine called yesterday to say that her aunt had passed away, having lived vigorously for 98 years.  My friend was crying and I understood so well how she felt.  Even though her aunt had been in poor health for about a year, my friend had been the one to travel to the assisted living center, the hospital, the rehab center, and her aunt's home to provide "care" for her in a myriad of ways.  My friend had called me often, exhausted, overwhelmed and sometimes even a little put-out because her own life had been put on hold.  Now, though, my friend spoke of what a blessing it had been for her to get to know her great aunt in the last few years as her aunt's mind was clear and she had entertained my friend with stories of herself and ones about my friend as a small child. 
I share this sketch with you that I call "Grief."  It represents my own grief over several losses I have suffered but I hope you see in it the silent part of grief that lingers and is triggered by small things in every day life that reminds us of those we loved.  These triggers often make us weep but sometimes they make us smile because no one ever leaves us, do they?  They stay in our heart and mind and we think of them and still love them, don't we?

Thanks for passing by.