At fifty-nine, I was certain that I knew myself – accomplished, defined and established – but illness changed the framework from which my remaining time would unfold. I became a non-entity in my former career, and a ghost to friends. My children mourned the loss of their vibrant mother and settled into lowered expectations. […]
The gap between the life I’d envisioned and this current reality is widening… I need a bridge – not a short, low one, but a large, expansive bridge to carry all my wishes, to facilitate movement of passing ideals, allow for traffic flow. Or a bridge to slow me down, dialled in to the sun’s […]
I’d been told that one street over from our house, behind the nursing home, there is a nature trail. Ric has been busy working – driving back and forth between the city – and I have been homebound, moaning about the dull weather, so I haven’t had a chance to see it for myself. Then […]
Here in southwest Ontario, we grow corn. By August we’ve also a grown an appetite for the taste of peaches and cream corn, buttered and salted, right off the cob. My mother comes from farming roots, but these days all she grows is older. We are all farmers, in a sense – planting our seeds, […]
Oh, to jump without fear – a skill long passed, although leaps of faith, I still take – never too aged for those. I remember when speed equated with freedom – a constant race – now I walk with careful measure, fresh air still accompanying pace. Never could accomplish a cartwheel – coordination not amongst […]
Children understand the mechanics of accomplishment: take a risk, try and try again, and bask in the accolades that follow. As I grow older, I wonder at what point in life I lost that simple understanding. Now, as I watch my granddaughters, I feel compelled to regain some of that old spunk: tackle the new, […]
Summer bursts with activities and plans, and I am already wondering at the folly of trying to move in the midst of it all. I put out a group text yesterday to solicit help from our kids, and the response was as expected: We are away that weekend. Can we help with the pre-move prep? […]