i have this friend who lives across the street from me. Well, she used to live there, until one day last winter, when i found her collapsed on her sun-porch floor. She was naked, and had been there all night on the concrete floor. The windows were open, and it had gotten down into the thirties that night. She had been doing laundry, and had had a stroke.
As we waited for the paramedics, i tried to joke with her about the importance of always doing laundry in the nude, because if you wear clothes while you do it, then *those* clothes haven't been cleaned yet, ya know? I knew she was worried, and not just about the stroke. She would have hated the idea of strangers coming into her house. I was one of the few people who had ever seen the inside of it.
And it was really something to see. She loved birds. She had living birds. And bird sculptures. Bird paintings. Bird knickknacks. Bird tapestries. Bird needlepoint pillows on feather mattresses. Bird nests, and eggs. Antique bird taxidermies, some of them of species now extinct. There were even dead birds in the freezer- a Red-headed Woodpecker, and a Bluejay, that had fallen from the sky. Virtually every surface was covered in birds.
Yesterday, i was very sick, food poisoning, i think. But in-between throwing up, i remembered that i needed to move the car. I was shocked to see an enormous white bird, standing on her porch. It was a Crane. Or maybe a Great Heron. Or even a Giant White Egret, i don't know. It saw me, and then calmly walked around her front yard, it was looking at her house. It was slowly walking, and staring at her house, the same way i had seen her do, a thousand times before. One time i even asked my friend what she was looking at, and she said "Do you still like this color, or shall I have it repainted?", and i was like, "Lady, I never get tired of purple houses."
But the bird in her yard wasn't talking. It didn't have to. I called the nursing home that she had been living in ever since her stroke. They said she died peacefully, in her sleep. They probably say that about *all* the dead people. I was one of precisely 3 friends that she had, and none of us could even visit her, since March, because of that _ _ _ - _ _- _- _ _ _ _ _ TRUMP, and his _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ Covid45. No one could call her on the phone, either, as she had lost her ability to speak when that little blood vessel busted open in her brain.
 |
|
@unk-p What a beautiful story. Sending loving energy to your friend of the birds, now free and flying with them.
Staying away for all very good and important reasons. I have been doing the same. Its very easy to become addicted to coming here.--great people, topics, thoughts and writings and links to read.
But remembering the real world and our place in it is a good thing. Working hard, adjusting to change, helping family. When I am here at home helping my personal tribe deal with physical, emotional or mental adjustments I know and appreciate the importance of placing family and loved ones first.
But even a quick pop in and catch up with love and care that we feel in every ounce of you reminds all of us of balance between so many worlds we live in all the time.
Sending you, your son and his wife a big hug. May all the adjustment go well. And how lovely to have him truly home for Christmas!
? ❤️ ?
Thank you for sharing this ... where'd you get that ? as big as the world?
It's a much better place for you being in it, dear Unk....
What a story! What a life and what an amazing kinship shared of many lives alone but never alone.
The song was perfect and it led me to other stories now frozen in my phone and lost from from me to you in one moment of endless time.
Still have the link through music though the words all disappeared. But the music is always enough in the end.
Heart--Nancy Wilson
Kenneday Center Honors
Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven"
https://youtu.be/2cZ_EFAmj08
And Jimmy Paige on how it was written to create all of the layers even even before they added lyrics. Really really listen to his words how acceleration happens without speeding up. Fascinating.
What a story! What a life and what an amazing kinship shared of many lives alone but never alone.
The song was perfect and it led me to other stories now frozen in my phone and lost from from me to you in one moment of endless time.
Still have the link through music though the words all disappeared. But the music is always enough in the end.
Heart--Nancy Wilson
Kenneday Center Honors
Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven"
https://youtu.be/2cZ_EFAmj08
And Jimmy Paige on how it was written to create all of the layers even even before they added lyrics. Really really listen to his words how acceleration happens without speeding up. Fascinating.
@unk-p Thank you for sharing that beautiful story. When a dear friend of mine and my Sweetheart's cousin died.. I saw a white chipmunk running across the yard in low hanging fog and immediately knew that Olivia had passed. She had been bitten by a brown recluse spider bite that turned really really bad and after an arduous recovery and about 8 months after getting back home she went in to renal failure and passed on over.... she had given all she could give on this plane was so tired and worn out with it all. She knew my love of my wild creatures in my yard. That was 2 years ago. This year? I had a solid white chipmunk show up in my yard in the Spring... the last time I saw him was Tuesday November the 3rd. I saw him that morning at the feeding station, stuffing his cheeks with the black oil sunflower seeds I put out each morning for the birds and the chipmunks and squirrels. it was the last time I saw him and I had told him I was going to vote for Biden/Harris to win. Animals and their unusual appearances and activities speak clearly to me. Yes.. that was she letting you know she was free of that worn out body once more. Prayers and Healing Energy.. I hope your digestive tract is once again in balance and purged of that you could not "stomach".
@michele-b. Thank you and hugs. The slower adjustment is by my 4 girls (3 cats and 1 dog) to a male presence ( my DIL's make cat - neutered and declawed) They are letting him know he has entered a matriarchal society here and that he and my son are outnumbered 6 girls to 2 boys LOL.
Thank goodness for Feliway MultiCat diffusers!
it still causes me to reflect with great sadness the number of musicians we have lost in the Pandemic. John Prine was a great loss to me . " I Remember Every Thing" "Some Humans Ain't Humans"
It is a good thing for all concerned here that my son and DIL moved here with me...a mutually beneficial arrangement for all 3 of us ..given the circumstances of life now. Thank you for those hugs and well wishes... yes.. we are looking forward to better days ahead.
@michele-b and all here I have also been pulled away by work and life but wanted to add my prayers for all here. Prayers for peace, comfort and healing ❤️☮️
Remembering all those who lost their lives in the attack on Pearl Harbor 79 years ago today.
Realizing that we are currently losing nearly the same amount of people each day to Covid as we did in Pearl Harbor.