The train starts down the track It'll make a few stops but they won't last Windblown trees wave goodbye Shotgun houses start rushing by There's a billboard on maintaining youth It's fading now Here comes the truth A baby in a stroller an unleashed dog Some children playing behind the fog Look a white wedding the bride just inside A funeral procession the cars can't divide There go the years The blank busy days Taken for granted then passing away Here comes my stop Too soon to arrive I wanted to lull Most days I drive "Can we learn about India and do an Indian craft?" she asks We watch a video of Tibetan monks creating a beautiful sand mandala ....after days of detailed work..... they ceremoniously sweep it away a bit appalling if you're 8 but a good start to a discussion about the impermanence of life and the world which ends with my daughter stating, "I'm gluing my mandala down" ....... Six weeks later I repeatedly arrange paper I've cut - placing each piece exactly where I want it I'll take a photograph before I glue my collage down onto the canvas, "Be like the monks" my daughter says a lovely well internalized deep thought except for having no relevance to my creations which will be lasting forever ......... I carefully carry my near complete masterpiece to the naturally lit front porch gently set it down and adjust my camera ..... Mother Nature finding this hilarious laughs as she gently blows the circles into a pile one much more interesting than I could have come up with His voice on tape
Brings him to life As if he is here Right next to his wife So funny and quick He jokes with his sons With deep adoration They parrot his puns He's in his thirties They're under ten He sounds like Jack Benny Yes, let's play it again He's not mine to remember I never met the man I know him from the future This far off distant land I'm sure I would've liked him With his gentle Jewish wit I'd love his calm demeanor And the faces that he lit His sons will soon outlive him Reach years he never did But every time they hear his voice They'll wish that they were kids Today he had a birthday If we have those when we're dead My husband keeps his memory In his heart and in his head And though he never meant to He forever changed my life He made the man I love And I became a wife We have his youngest grandchild For me my only one His warmth flows to her daily A life is never done The leaves have started to turn here in Louisville. This, along with the death of Steve Jobs and his 2005 Commencement Speech at Stanford, prompted me to visit Cave Hill Cemetery. From part of that speech: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life." "Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important." "Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new." "Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away." "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life." "Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice." "And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become." - Steve Jobs |
I am an artist, psychiatrist and mother.
I live in Louisville, Kentucky with my husband and daughter. Categories
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August 2013
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