While I haven’t worn much mascara (except on very special occasions) over the past twenty years or so, I would surely have wanted it to be waterproof during these last twelve months.
With my Scandanavian heritage, to say that I am stoic to the core would be an understatement. Some might say my stoicism has an icy edge to it… cold! Born from an inner resistance, it’s definitely difficult for me to share tears publicly. Doesn’t mean I don’t cry. I do! Alone in the shower often finds both tears and water flowing down the drain.
So why delve into this topic tonight? I have been rendered to tears more often than I can count lately, surprising and even worrying myself a bit. Dr. Kathy tells me I’m not alone and that even she cries herself to sleep now and then. She tells me to keep in touch and that she will prescribe something if I feel the need for help. I resist that notion and am resolved to keep strong.
You hear the “numbers” on the daily news but it doesn’t sink in until “lives well lived” is featured by Nicolle Wallace on her daily MSNBC show. Today’s feature was that of a grandmother just about my age. Seemingly healthy, except for all that ‘old age’ stuff and the preconditions that come with being old enough to have grandchildren, and taking what seemed to her friends and family as extreme precautions by sheltering at home, it came as shocking to all of them when she tested positive.
She was daughter, teacher, wife, mother, friend, valued employee and good citizen. There were many in her life who loved her for being a nurturing force in their life. There were many who admired her for being original and creative. There were many who were generously bestowed with her giving nature… giving of both her spirit and the tangible offerings she made to one and all.
She died from covid on Christmas morning with just enough time for her family to say good-bye… via FaceTime.
Even Nicolle had trouble getting through this lady’s story without a tear or two. Me… I shed three or four and even more… probably because I felt an affinity. Her story hit home! I’m sure, like me, she was looking forward to seeing grandchildren graduate college, get married and maybe even making her a great-grandmother. She didn’t think of herself as old and therefore expendable. She was active and viable and enjoying her life. She had a lot to look forward to. She had many more gifts to bestow. She had miles to go before she slept.
To all my children, grandchildren, and future great grandchildren….
While I am nearing my 77th year and that seems old to most everyone, including even me, I don’t feel old….. well, let’s make that clear. Of course I have all the aches and pains of getting older but in my head I still want to live and create and have fun and be with friends and family and make memories… not so much for me, but for all of you. Right now in this time and place of our terrifyingly challenging history, I am kept from doing much of that except to keep posting on my blog about what memories come to mind and being hopeful of what new memories are still to come.
I guess anyone who has reached the ripe old age of 77 has seen a lot in their lifetime. Born shortly after a world war, one of my first memories, besides Christmas and a doll and cradle under the tree, is that of the inauguration of Dwight David Eisenhower as president. My parents were huge fans of this highly acclaimed general and their enthusiasm was, of course, contagious and their young daughter was caught up in their excitement. Guess you might say that a ‘young republican’ was born during those years of Eisenhower.
Since then, I have seen the total rampage over the objection to the Vietnam War in which I lost several of my high school classmates. I have have seen the turmoil, strife and pain of the civil rights movement. I have seen the assassinations of much loved public figures, including Martin Luther King, John F Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. Etched in the memory banks are the days of both Kennedy assassinations.
Home from a college class with a bad cold and on the sofa in my living room watching The Price is Right when Walter Cronkite broke into the programming to tell us that our president had just been shot. Watching for days on end as the cameras were focused entirely on his coffin in the capitol rotunda and feeling immense sorrow and fear for our country was gut wrenchingly sad. What had just happened seemed incomprehensible to me.
Years later, after finally getting my teaching degree and being assigned to Jane Addams junior high school, I was getting ready for bed one evening in June when my brother yells up the stairs at me…”another Kennedy has been shot.” My heart sank and I had to stifle tears the next morning in my first period class. What to say to all of them because saying nothing was not an option. I was a first year teacher and trying to offer comfort and explanation when there was so little of each.
Somewhere along the path, I learned to think for myself and chose not to be very “political” in either thought or deed. Seemed to me that assessing the quality of the individual was far more important than the party they represent. So… I’ve always voted for the person and not the party.
I wish more voters would do the same!
Maybe we wouldn’t be in such dire consequences as we are if the quality of person was more important than what party they represent.
I know that I promised not to get too political on my blog but what is happening in our country these days is deeply disconcerting and saddening to me. I’ve lived through a lot but this seems different and more scary than even the campus riots against the Vietnam War or the assassinations that defined my youth.
Partly I was young and dumb back in those days, too caught up in the circumstances of my own life and not paying close enough attention and not caught up in political discussion or division. These days I’ve gone the opposite direction and pay way too close attention to the news.
There’s something here that I’m trying to convey so don’t leave me now before I get to the grand finale. Sorry that I took the long way there. If you’ve hung in so far…. you are amazing to me!
Did you know that your mother/nana was a huge fan of The Beatles? Fifty years ago the Beatles conquered America, touching down in New York on February 7, 1964, (just two years after my high school graduation) and making their live U.S. debut two nights later on the Ed Sullivan Show. They seemed to come out of nowhere, but in fact, we knew they were coming and I was glued to the TV that night, as it was quite a moment to remember.
As I continued my college classes and honed in on Education as a major and English as my subject to want to teach… I was fortunate to have a wonderful instructor who offered us up some wisdom on how to reach students by using materials that “get ’em where they live” as a philosophy.
As a consequence, I used lots of Beatles lyrics to teach. I would play a Beatles song to entertain us all and then hand out paper copies of the lyrics to teach such things as grammar and punctuation.
So…. years later and for all of you in my family… here are some words from John Lennon that might help us through this most challenging, sad and difficult time in all of our lives.
I think that they most succinctly capture endurance, perspective and hope:
“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”
Full disclosure: I guess that technically, while those words have been attributed to Lennon, they actually came from a Portuguese writer. And, John was known for a biting and even sarcastic sense of humor so when he refers to the end…. he means literally THE END. You know…. of life as we know it. Good-bye world! And, of course, until then… nothing will be okay because nothing has ever been okay.
But, I’ll settle for reading them in a more positive light and let them give us hope that there will be an end to the pandemic, our economic crisis and the racial division that seems to never leave us….. and, at some point, we will be okay. At least as okay as before the last four years. Perhaps even better. That would be the best of all outcomes.
Know that I am thinking of you all this night. It’s winter and dark comes early. I am now old enough to want to retire for the evening, as much as that astounds me. ‘Early to bed… early to rise’ has always been a motto of mine even way back when in college, as I could learn and write and memorize much better in the early morning hours, as opposed to the late night. But early to bed wasn’t quite as early as 8pm which it now is.
I’m going to hope that my night is free of bad nightmares (Oops! I’m the English teacher and I don’t think the noun nightmare needs the adjective bad. Are there good nightmares?) but full of good dreams that our new president will offer us comfort and a true path toward healing some of the ills that plaque us.
Good night dear Family and all the Friends that make up my marvelous extended family. Sleep tight and good dreams to all!
Hope I’m invited too. Dinner sounds delicious and comforting with all of you there with me. Sounds like a special occasion for sure. Where’s a good mascara when you need it?
Love to all!