Hard to be cheery when you’re grieving. but what better way to heal, acting as if until you are.
The little girls of the family renting my late friend Mimi’s apartment, made me roses out of pink Kleenex, their stems with bobby pins.
We love you, we love Mimi, their card said, though they had never met her.
We bought balloons that Frank the super blew up we let go shouting, bye Mimi, have a nice trip. How she would have loved the innocence of these children, taught, this is the best way to say good-bye to a friend.
I read some Anne Lamott, always good for a giggle with a little gospel tossed in, a king size box of Oreos on my nightstand with a silo of milk to dunk them in.
Simple pleasures, creature comforts, thoughts that warm will see us through.
We’re designed to recover, one off our best features, since when we least expect it, sadness recycles into a tender tap on the shoulder.
I’ll see a woman in a bright, snappy suit imagining Mimi tooling down the street, or hydrangeas, her favorite bloom, will appear, waving as they bounce by.
A robin will sunbathe on my window sill reminding me when Mimi fed a baby fallen from its nest with an eye dropper, while someone lets me go first in a check-out line teasing, is that all you’re having for dinner?
I’ll think, Mimi, is that you?
The goodness of our dearly departed lingers, as a lofty, lasting legacy.
You just need to be on the look-out is all.
🙂
SB
That is so sweet that the kids did a tribute to her. She was bigger than life. We need more people like her.
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She would have loved them. Her family never told her they rented her place. I knew it because, she never asked me about them and she would have grilled me like a steak if she had known. So many mysteries here that no longer matter now that she’s gone.
Thanks Kate.
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I recently found a poem that your beautiful piece made me think of. Wanted to share it with you:
“The tide recedes, but leaves behind bright seashells on the sand. The sun goes down, but gentle warmth still lingers on the land. The music stops yet it echoes on in sweet refrains. For ever joy that passes, something beautiful remains.”
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How lovely. Thank you so much for sending it to me. I appreciate it more than you know.
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Among all those tender thoughts, you threw in “she would have grilled me like a steak”. I know one thing. You have red-hot humor, and I’ll say as the English do, “Well done!”
You love so deeply, and Mimi must have known it. When she was put in a place not of her choosing, she had lovely memories of you to get her through.
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She would have wanted to know all about them, and I know, how happy it would have made her, that a family was in her home. Why they didn’t tell her is one of the many mysteries connected with all of this.
Fiercely independent her whole life, it must have been a prison for her. I’d try to be light and say, so how’s the Ritz? because apparently it was top-of-the-line, but it didn’t matter. Home was where her heart was.
Anyway…as always, thank you for your kind words.
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Sweet girls to share their love with you to help heal your heart. I think Mimi will never be too far from you though it may seem so.
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Little lights, I call them. You can already see who they’ll become, their fine roots securely planted. Mimi would have adored them. Thank you Patricia.
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❤️
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❤️
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The new residents of Mimi’s apartment sound wonderful. They certainly raised their daughters to be caring and empathetic. Don’t you think Mimi would approve of the new caretakers?
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Absolutely. They’re an old-fashioned, traditional family. It’s very refreshing to see.
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Sounds like you are a good friend.
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When I want to be, yes.
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well, really, aren’t we all “when we want to be”? lol
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That’s nice. I’m glad she left an impact. Nice of you to give her a 21 balloon sendoff (or however many 🙂 ).
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There were 10 altogether. She would have loved it, the silliness and how beautiful they looked taking flight.
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Children have a way of healing hearts with their genuine love.
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You should know there Mom…:)
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