Spent the last four days in Ottawa with friends..one of them, Phyllis, gave me this poem, since it's just on a piece of paper I want to keep it I'll share it here and have it for future reference...
"If you should go before me dear, walk slowly
down the ways of death, well worn and wide
For I would want to overtake you quickly,
and walk the journey's ending by your side
I would be so forlorn not to descry you
down some shining highroad when I came
Walk slowly, dear, and often look behind you
and pause to hear if someone calls your name." (Adelaide Love)
On the train going to Ottawa, the book I read was "The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving " A novel by Jonathan Evison..the paragraph I was going to underline in the book, and didn't..he repeats at the end ..it's worth reading and thinking about:-
"Listen to me: everything you think you know, every relationship you've ever taken for granted, every plan or possibility you've ever hatched, every conceit or endeavor you've ever concocted, can be stripped from you in an instant. Sooner or later, it will happen. So prepare yourself. Be ready not to be ready. Be ready to be brought to your knees and beaten to dust. Because no stable foundation, no act of will, no force of cautious habit will save you from this fact: nothing is indestructible"
How one tries to think, well this would never happen to me I will or am prepared for every contingency, but life will really get in the way for sure. Maybe, if one lives in a bubble, does not have a loved one, and loved ones, if one hardly cares about their work, their hobby, their way of life, then perhaps destruction is expected and one is already in the dust...with an attitude of who cares. BUT, caring is the key, and when one cares for whatever, then one has to be ready to be beaten down, but remember one can rise again and again, till the end..and maybe the end will be what you will want.
When I think of the friends who have risen from a kind of dust, i.e. Parkinsons Disease, ALS, Alzheimer's (our own latest shock and pain) paralysis, cancer etc etc...not to mention heartbreak, break ups and death of loved ones and close friends, children, precious pets. Children born into homes of abuse, poverty or both, those born or living in war torn countries, concentration camps, or refugee camps, those that have struggled and overcome, they may never be the same, and they may and probably will die sooner than later..therefore being grateful for every moment of peace love and of overcoming whatever beats one down, is a victory and a time of reward, and though it doesn't last, one should hold on to it while they can.
This book obviously has had an effect on me..and was sad, but I did laugh and enjoy, so recommend it - and thanks Maureen for giving it to me for Christmas. g'nite.
No comments:
Post a Comment