Friday, July 31, 2009

What can I do?

Many, many people across the country have been touched by this story, and have asked what can they do. And so I am passing this along: 

Thank you all for your outpouring of love & support for Jackie, Warren & their families. A fund has been established and donations can be made to:

The Hance Family Foundation
49 Locust Avenue
Garden City, NY 11530

Please pray that they find some measure of peace.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

When words fail

There are times when words cannot move us or in any measure convey our feelings. Times that are so grievous that no matter how beautiful or powerful the words may be, they cannot touch us or bring comfort and peace. Times when anything we say seems to clang the wrong note.

In my time of sorrow, I often found myself utterly speechless - and I took a measure of comfort in knowing that God understood my feelings, even tho I could not express them.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Life goes on, even when we think we can't

This weekend, a dear family friend had her world shattered when a terrible auto accident took her three daughters from this life.

And yet, our lives goes on. 

We wake up in the morning and go about our daily activities. We cry, and we wonder why, but we go on.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

How do you explain 9/11 to a child?

Today, the wee nieces and I were hiking in the abandoned cemetery. My 5 year old niece turned and asked me, "is Tommy was buried here?"

I was a little taken aback, as Madi had never known Tommy, and had never mentioned him before.

I replied that Tommy's grave was in a cemetery closer to her Grandma's house. When she asked where he was when he wasn't there, I told her he was in heaven (not a construct easily understood by the young, as I know from personal experience!). Then she wanted to know if he can leave heaven - which led to a very brief explanation about how being in heaven and being dead is a permanent condition.
After talking this over with my sis-in-law later in the afternoon, I learned that my niece had actually overheard some grown-up conversations. A warning to all grown-ups: children hear everything! Even if you think you are speaking in code, or that they are distracted with something else, or are even sleeping in another room: children live to root out the mysteries and secrets in their lives!

Leah shared with me that Madi had also recently asked her about Tommy - questions along the lines of "so did the plane crash into him...? " and so Leah had the heartrending task of telling a tale of evil and murder to her precious and innocent child.

She had to explain to Madi that she was never going to meet her Uncle Tommy in this lifetime - because Uncle Tommy worked for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center.

And his first day back at work after a brief paternity leave was Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

An no one came home from work on that very say day.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

I Hear America Singing, Walt Whitman

I HEAR America singing, the varied carols I hear;
Those of mechanics—each one singing his, as it should be, blithe and strong;
The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work;
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat—the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck;
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench—the hatter singing as he stands;
The wood-cutter’s song—the ploughboy’s, on his way in the morning, or at the noon intermission, or at sundown;
The delicious singing of the mother—or of the young wife at work—or of the girl sewing or washing—Each singing what belongs to her, and to none else;
The day what belongs to the day—At night, the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious songs.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

In my life, John Lennon

There are places I'll remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places had their moments
with lovers and friends, I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life, I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
there is no one who compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
when I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
for people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life, I'll love you more

(Yes, it is cheating to use this for poetry Wednesday, but its late and I'm late and this resonates for me right now!)