#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream
Montreal street tonight
Excerpt from “The Afterlife,” by Billy Collins: poem here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=37847
Happy Thanksgiving, I feel, as I walk, early, just after light, to the river in a light rain. Saying goodbye, as well: a travel day. Charlie and Suzi see the bags assembled by the door, and they are anxious, they don’t yet know they are invited on this trip. We have hosted our pre-Thanksgiving, so this day is for travel. All the kids and partners and dogs: we go to Montreal, for the weekend, for fun. First, a visit to an elderly person we love who has is experiencing a challenging health scare. We sit in the room and listen to her fears and concerns. I go straight to it: the soul. And I feel the presence of all our souls, right there in the room. My personal belief is that a person’s spirit survives in the afterlife. I also understand, when faced with a challenging diagnosis, the fear rising to challenge all beliefs, raise all doubts. Seems normal to me, and so I try to normalize this. And listen. Especially, to listen. So, the stories come, so naturally. She tells stories and as she’s telling the stories she needs to tell she is feeling better. We listen her into feeling better, because she instinctively knows the stories she needs to tell right now, the ones that will calm and reassure her and help her soothe her soul. I know, one hundred percent, a person’s spirit outlasts the body. Love is an energy that outlasts the body. We pack dogs and family and drive. We drive to this other country. We have no wait at customs on this holiday. Everyone in the car is happy, especially Charlie and Suzi, who fall asleep and wake up in a new land, exactly where they want to be in the middle of family, wherever we are. To all my readers, I am so grateful for you this Thanksgiving. If this blog were never read by anyone but me I would still write it. But knowing you’re listening matters to me. You listen to me say what I don’t know I need to say until it is said. Thank you.
