Soul Mosaic

Before starting this new phase of writing, I did what I did before I started writing this book – I sought God. Some may think it’s strange. That’s okay. It is my way of preparing for and honoring a serious work.

Rituals have power for me. They are a way to clarify my mind. Ask for help. And cement my commitment. Especially for a task I feel inadequate for, and am intimidated by.

For me, a particularly meaningful ritual is to visit the nearby synagogue’s mikveh. It is a pool of natural water that you immerse in while saying prayers, or just talking with God. I do this in moments of significant events or transitions, moments of grief or healing, or, in this case, new challenges.

As I enter the water and sink below the surface, I hold one prayer in my mind — just a one-word prayer in Hebrew: Hineini. In English, it means “Here I am, God.”

I cannot think of a more powerful prayer than to say – I am here, and I will do what you wish. It is total submission to the Universe…to the will of a Higher Power. It is surrendering this work for whatever God wants it to be. And it is my acknowledgement that I cannot do this alone. I am simply the tool. So, God, speak, and I will write.

There is freedom that comes as I float in that pool. Stress eases. And as I step out, I feel like that old self is shed, and I am ready to go forward.

So as I begin this new section…Hineini.

Note:

I am seeking financial support to complete my memoir, work with an editor, and return home for fact-checking. Your help would mean the world to me as I take this step toward healing and giving voice to my journey.

Please like, comment, and share this post to help spread the word. The link for my fundraiser is on GoFundMe. Thank you for your support.

“…there is no security in not knowing things, in avoiding the ugliest truths because they can’t be faced. There is only an oppressive, creeping dread that the thing no one has told you is too terrible to imagine, and that it will haunt the rest of your life when you find out.”

― Natalie Haynes, The Children of Jocasta

Looking at that quote, I totally agree with the first sentence.

As to the rest, the only thing that will haunt me is NOT knowing. THAT is too terrible to imagine. Instead, whatever I learn will set me free.

That Undiscovered Country

Finally – the book arrives at its destination: The Undiscovered Country…the “bottom line.” I could call it a journey through the underworld, a soul journey, whatever, but the bottom line is that it is a whole new place that I have not yet explored, and my heart has made it clear — it is time.

Shakespeare referred to the Undiscovered Country in his play, “Hamlet.” Books carry that title. Even Star Trek used it for a movie.

Where Shakespeare’s Hamlet spoke of it in terms of what comes after death, and some books use it to refer to past civilizations, in Star Trek, they were toasting the future.

For me, it is the past brought forward into the present to change my future…and maybe someone else’s.

With such a weighty mission, the entries for this last section will be slower in coming. I need to think, dream, chew on things. This last part of the book will be wrestling with file folders full of questions scribbled on strips of paper from thoughts catalyzed during the writing process. So, I need to sit with each one and “listen” to what it is telling or asking me.

So what to say about Mom?

It’s been said you die as you lived, and maybe that’s true, up to a point. I think it was for him. But sometimes, maybe, as you die, you finally reclaim your power…

She had been waiting to die since Dad had passed away. Yet she made her way longer…almost 9 years long. And over those years, she evolved. And became her own person even as she slowly declined.

She did surprise me with how she created her own life and routines when he wasn’t there to push her around anymore. And she didn’t fold. Maybe she just finally picked up where she had left off before she married him.

While there had been painful years of that frozen detente between us, those last 2 years as she grew closer to death were the best we’d ever had. And it was in her death process that maybe we reached some connection. At the very least, for me, being there with her through her death was a gift.

There is a sadness, though, too, an ache for me that has always been there, and will now remain forever – her “absence.” Time has run out now to ever know that mother’s unconditional love. And trapped within her battered psyche were the answers to questions I was never allowed to ask, and that she would never answer.

Photo from author

Here is the post that I started the memoir with, for those who did not see it. Mom’s death was not easy…for any of us. But to me, it was a gift and an honor to be there with her. So I share that post here.

Mom’s Death — The End of an Era…And a Beginning

2015-2019 A whole new life

Virginia became a time that appears to have given Mom fun in life. Closer to family, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, it was a time she was still healthy and active enough to do things.

Sometimes, especially when she first moved from Pennsylvania, she was kind of grumpy and refused to participate in things, even things she loved. I suspect that was payback for moving her. And…I can appreciate that after Dad died, she was living on her terms in Pennsylvania. While it was life, age, and health that forced this change, I can understand if she just folded her arms and refused to be happy about things. And no doubt being closer to one of us probably cramped her style…which also no doubt worked both ways.

But gradually, she did begin to make her peace with things and found her new normal. She LOVED IHOP and their crepes. Right to the end, we could always get her to eat crepes, even as she wasn’t interested in other things anymore. Frozen yogurt was another favorite, and she was never without a crossword puzzle book. The day she died, she was still trying to work a puzzle even as she just stared at the page. There were hours working jigsaw puzzles until her eyes started to fail her, and her back hurt too much.

She ferociously rooted for her New England Patriots – and we knew never to call her if they lost. And we even got her out to Colonial Williamsburg for old times’ sake. She even climbed up into the carriage to ride around the grounds. I could see her joy as she just watched various things go by, and periodically she would remember something about a family trip from the past.

“Frozen detente”

Yet, it was still difficult.

What might she have been?

I look at my mother’s early photos, and always, I see joy. Maybe there were other things beneath that smile, which led her to him. Whatever it was, that sealed her fate.

Once he was in her life, she lived in his shadow. Yielded to his will. Was belittled by his words and terrorized by his fists.

In all the years I knew her, there had always been a “him” between us. Never just HER. Now that he was gone, what would our relationship be like? And who would she be now?

Photo by author

Before I move beyond my father’s death and on to my mother’s last days, I wanted to repost a piece for those who may not have seen this.

This is the first post I did for this memoir, and it is about the last time I saw my father before he died.

For those who have already read this, you can move on. For those who never saw it, here it is:

Post: Dad – The Last Conversation

I don’t like your father…

It was one of the visits to Pennsylvania. We were having lunch with my parents at their neighborhood’s community center across the street from their house. Every few weeks, the center would put on a full-course meal complete with salad and dessert bars. It was always a great spread, so my mother would always get tickets for it, especially if any of us were visiting.

I let everyone else go ahead and get their food, then I headed for the salad bar. Intent on scooping a ladle full of black olives, my favorite, I was oblivious to this older woman standing near me until I turned to move on.

“Are you the ones here to visit your parents?”

It was not an uncommon question, as word travels fast in a retirement community if someone different is there. And it was always considered a “status symbol” to have your family visit.

So I smiled and answered that yes, my husband and I were visiting, and who my parents were.

But I should have known she already knew who my parents were. That information spreads quickly, too. As soon as I answered, without missing a beat, she said to me, “I don’t like your father. I like your mother. But not your father.”

This period was a “status-quo” one – mostly a continuation of the progress and healing that began in 2009.

Our son

Whatever Ed and I were struggling with, we had worked hard to keep it from affecting our son. He was doing well, which was a relief to both of us.

It had been great having him back in the state for college, even as we didn’t see him that much. He savored his classes in German literature and was busy participating in drama productions, clubs, and fund-raising and social service activities.

By 2012, he had finished his undergraduate degree program and had been accepted to a Master’s degree program in Higher Education Administration at another local university. But first, he earned the chance to intern for the summer at a university in Germany in their higher education administration department. It was a rare chance, so he delayed starting the graduate classes and quickly accepted the internship.

He apparently had written his entire application in German, and between that and whatever he wrote to them, that was all the German university needed to decide he was their choice. On his return, while he waited to start his classes, he spent several months working, first in a local home-improvement store, operating forklifts, and then driving a recycling truck for a university — whatever it took to save up some money. He was finding his way in life and making the most of every opportunity life sent him.

Ed and I