Shadow Paths

It is a beautiful day...warm and sunny, a perfect August afternoon. I am relishing the last two weeks of summer vacation and vow to remember the sweetness of the season. Life is good. In my daydreaming, I remember those who are going through life's sorrows, specifically the loss of loved ones. While I am enjoying the warmth and wonderful weather, there are those that are clinging to sanity while mourning the passing of cherished family. Everyone has their hurts and sometimes it is too easy to let those in pain pass by without offering a word, a touch or comfort. Why do we let them pass by? Sometimes we just don't know what to say, we don't know how to say it or we simply don't want to appear foolish and stupid by our lack of eloquence.

Let me be brave enough to appear foolish...let me be honest enough to share my failures, my misses with others if it will help them rise above their despair. I don't want empathy to ever leave my heart. I will try to take the path that points the way to honesty and loyalty...even though it may be in the shadows...

"It is impossible for one to live without tears who considers things exactly as they are."

Gregory of Nyssa, De Beatitudine

My Mommy and Her Brother

This is a special one. Last summer a friend and I went on an awesome vacation trip with my parents to Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains. We had a great week and were preparing to travel on to Nashville and other great destinations. A late night phone call changed all of our plans. My mom's only sibling, my uncle had died suddenly back home in Oregon. He was only 66 years old. Through the confusion and grief, we changed our flights and returned home to plan a funeral.

My mom and her brother grew up on a dairy farm and their only family "vacation" was the four days of the local County Fair. They worked on the farm and saved their pennies all year for the fair. As they worked they dreamed of the rides they would ride and the goodies they would eat. I created this collage picturing them in their youth and entered it as a courtesy exhibit at the same County Fair that they always attended. It's a "magical" County Fair...I go every year and now my grown children go every year. And yes...my mom at age 71 still goes every year to the Tillamook County Fair, in Tillamook, Oregon.