Adieu! I have too grieved a heart to take a tedious leave. ~ Shakespeare.
I hate goodbyes. I hate them & I'm really, really bad at them. It was a family joke at how I howled each & every time I had to say goodbye as a child. The art of saying goodbye cheerfully is one I've never mastered.
I hate goodbyes. I hate them & I'm really, really bad at them. It was a family joke at how I howled each & every time I had to say goodbye as a child. The art of saying goodbye cheerfully is one I've never mastered. Our small family has shrunk so much in recent years & we each know there are no guarantees. We hope there will be many more shared times together ~ but there are no assurances that this will be so.
Not that ma & I are the noisy sorts. Often we are each immersed in our book, cuppa to hand, but the shared quiet, Pixie snoring contentedly in whichever lap will accommodate her, the sound of Ditz singing through the empty rooms, the water feature gurgling softly in the background ~ the small things are the very weft & warp of time itself. Life is made of the small moments.
My mother has a knack for managing the everyday beautifully: the well appointed table; flowers in a cut glass vase on the dressing table; hand made soaps in pottery dishes in the guest bathroom, pretty hand towels. 
It's not always easy to make time in our schedule to head north for a day or two. Ours is a large, noisy & disorganised household prone to sudden & complicated changes of plan & a day or two of any of us can systematically ruin my mother's well regulated life. Liddy hikes her up Mt Coolum & for miles along the beach. Ditz provides constant music but my mother has no say in the programming. I invariably abscond with the book my mother is currently reading, having picked it up to browse & slowly submerged. For a brief moment our lives touch then spin apart again. The phone is not the same; it doesn't hug back ~ but the love never changes. It is the same yesterday, today, forever. ♥
9 comments:
Thanks for the good cry. I miss my Mom so much. Leaving her was the only part of God's plan about moving us here that I ever questioned. Thankfully she comes to visit us once a year and (for now) I just don't think about the time that will come when she isn't able to do that any more.
A lovely tribute to your Mum.
Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment - and an interesting one - a slightly different point of view which is worth thinking about. Do call again.
Oh Bonnie. You have it hard, girl! Different country, whole 'nuther continent.
Weaver: As people round here will tell you I'm rather notorious for having * a slightly different point of view.* ☺ Be welcome.
I just found you blog, I love it, so much warmth here :)
Awwww, I loved this post! I miss my Mum heaps, and I won't be visiting her until I pass over to Glory ;)
Your Mum looks like such a warm mother... I loved imagining you both sitting there with your books, coffee etc. Those are the special times in life... the ones to be treasured and savoured :D
This is lovely Ganeida. I love the photo of the three of you. The connection is written on the faces.
I'm glad you were able to get out for this break!! :)
Welcome, Renee. ☺ Enjoy.
Amanda: Yeah, we've lost my dad & younger brother so we treasure each other a little more than most. ☺
Sandra: Hey, melting one! One extreme to the other out your way!
Mrs C: Ta. My mother spoils us terribly so it is a real break & we badly needed one.
I also hate good byes - I see my parents once or twice a year and as their health fades it is hard to say goodbye as one can never know if they will be with us by the next visit. My mother is restricted in movement due to a stroke she had 3 years ago and her health is quite poor so we can no longer go out and about as we once did - so we enjoy quiet times together which are very special - not often which makes each visit some precious.
But on this trip my brother (from the USA) was visiting - he only comes every 3-4 years which always makes a goodbye hard as it will be sometime until I see him again. But thanks to modern technology we all communicate via email and phone which does reduce that distances.
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