My
inspirational muse reacted to the passing of my sister Harriet by disappearing.
It might be said that Harriet herself was a kind of muse, often encouraging me
in my imaginative endeavors. (Harriet had a great imagination.)
“I
thought I might write another advent story for the blog,” I told her, “but I
don’t know. I don’t really write stories, and maybe it’s just kinda silly.”
“No,”
Harriet responded, “it’s not silly. Last year I looked forward to it every day.
Do it again.” But oh dear! Can I do it without her? I will miss her during the
holidays even though our daily comings and goings weren't intertwined. I could always count on her to check in via email and tell me what was going on.
“Merry
Christmas,” she said a few weeks ago when I visited her, and she handed me an
angel made out of a folded handkerchief, purchased for me at a church bazaar because of my interest in re-using vintage handkerchiefs.
“Christmas?”
I asked. “Aren’t we going to get together with Joni and exchange gifts as usual?”
Harriet
said nothing but smiled sweetly and shrugged. So Harriet! Not as meaningful in
that moment as it was after her passing.
“Oh!”
I remembered the other day. “I didn’t give her anything.” But it’s okay, I
realized. She doesn’t need it now.
 |
| Once again, dogs know that Hallie has left the building. |
Our
extended family gathered Saturday (Nov. 12) for Harriet’s memorial service.
Besides the locals, brother Chuck and wife Joanne drove in from Utah and
daughter Hallie was with us from Seattle.
And now it's time to move on and discover the new normal. KW
[My dad took the above snapshots during the Christmas season of 1952 or '53: Harriet, Joni, Charles, Kathy, and Nina. These are the images not chosen for the Christmas cards. Clearly, Kathy has had enough.]
Been thinking of you daily. Totally understand--my muse left in the summer and is gone, too. I'll endeavor to send you an email update soon, but even that is hard to do. Sending love and hugs.
ReplyDeleteLove and hugs to you, too, Chris. We miss you and are waiting patiently for you to appear again. You are part of our circle.
ReplyDeleteLove to you both!
ReplyDeleteMay I just comment that it must have been incredibly hard for little Kathy to sit still amongst those fun older kids and especially while wearing those cute slippers? They were asking too much!
I remember when this picture was taken. The slippers *were* cute! They were blue character slippers with yellow ribbing (I think) around the ankles. However, I don't remember the character. There was a "squeaker" in the head. I had a letter in my hand that someone had written to me, and I kept saying, "Please read it to me. I can't read writing." And they would smile or chuckle because, of course, I couldn't read anything.
ReplyDeleteOh no! I described the wrong slippers. Quite obviously those were my bear slippers. They were brown. But I do think they squeaked when you squeezed the head.
ReplyDeleteThey did ask quite a lot of me, and sometimes I didn't readily comply.