Keep it real

Reflecting on turning sixty, as the count down continues,

I realize:

I have lost too much and too many, to dwell in fantasy. I prefer to keep it real.

It is all about grief.

Comments

[Donna]

I have known this for a while intellectually but never really had a gut wrenching understanding of it until quite recently... so true, TOmar... so true. I had a dream about you last night! You look great...thanks for popping in! :o)

[tamarika]

I am so enjoying your comments, dear friends and readers. Thanks, Donna for your poem, Mary for your joyful reminder, Ilene for your glorious friendship, and "Apuch" for your support (I ordered a whole bunch of chocolate covered strawberries from you for our faculty meeting on the 12th!).

I am laughing because I think some of you might be right ... the recent continuous rain might have affected my brain!

On the other hand, "keeping it real" or feeling the grief threaded through life is also joyous ... as in "Joyfully participating in the sorrow of the living ..."

[Apuch]

I think I just saw a fish swim by my second floor window.
Happy Birthday when it comes. Just remember that getting older beats the alternative. It is sad to lose friends in whatever way it happens but it is also joyous to know that you carry them with you in your heart and your mind richer for the friendship......always.

[Donna]

I found it....
layers
11/28/08

layers touching layers
where the rivers flow
the only thing I'll ever have
is everything I know

colors over colors
yellow... blue... to green
everywhere I'm going
is everywhere I've been

pathways crossing pathways
intersections blessed
everyone I've ever loved
is there, where we find rest

(I'm not sure why, but your entry made me think of this and want to share it with you.... do I have to know why???? No. Trying not so worry so much about all the whys.)

[Donna]

Grief is the piece of our lives that we tend to be most dismissive towards... I think we honor ourselves (and what we grieve) when we allow ourselves to feel it deeply (I don't claim to be GOOD at it, but I do know it's true). I also think we are fooling ourselves when we think it can be dismissed... ah, and I have learned the hard way that delayed grief is the most agonizing grieving of all. I love how you said it... keeping it real! Delaying or denying our feelings doesn't buy us time... it robs from us down the road, and what a gift to ourselves if we could keep that road as clear as possible!!!! Oh... I am thinking of a poem I wrote... if i can find it, I will post it for you here.... :o)