Michael made this oh-so lovely video after capturing many quiet and profound snapshots of our family spending time with our Grandmother...You can also view it here.
I knew I wanted to travel to Arizona see my Grandmother for a while. It was important for me to go and for my mother to as well. I know how very difficult it is for her...how can it not be?Though there is sadness, pain and so much heartache surrounding the decline of my lovely Granny Kay, Katherine Johnston, we have so much to celebrate as well, the love and the lasting effects of her beautiful life...
I will celebrate my mother, my lovely aunts and my uncle, and the memory of my uncle Patrick so vividly described by my mother which allows me to celebrate him too.
I will celebrate my brother the most incredible person I know and my gorgeous cousins.
I will celebrate all of the wonderful partners we have in our lives that support us and cherish us as we all should be cherished. Family is not always bound by blood but formed by love...
I will celebrate my Grandfather, Mister Mike...the bravest man in my sight today. My heart breaks for him but also sings at the thought of his infinite memories of his wonderful wife.
And I will celebrate the moments. Seeing my Grandmother's sweet brown eyes and those same eyes reflected in the family, holding her hands, The Bean drawing Grandma in her wheelchair...spending time with my family and hearing all of the stories of the before and the now.
I will hold these moments inside, locked tight like a memory that doesn't always speak but simply knows, without a doubt, the love that resides within a family born from a promise, a wife, a mother, a grandmother...a heart within our hearts forever.
I knew you
A pocket of time was stitched
a hole settled in the soft fabric
threads loosened
and time slipped out
slowly
I caught it in my my head
like a memory
A drop of time was spattered
a silken piece fell in eyelashes
rested quietly
and rolled down
your face
I held it in my hand
a reflection
your smile
always inside this threadbare place
5 comments:
oh Allison, Thank you and Marine Mike for the lovely message. You are the Best of the Best.
Granda' on the Sonora Desert.
Well done sis. I love the poetry and the painting. Lovely dedication to our Grandmother.
Beautiful. I love my children more than ever for the love and gentle thoughtfulness they have presented this living memory of my own mother, their grandmother. We gathered together, from the oldest to the youngest, to, as my lovely daughter stated, celebrate our Mother, Wife, Grandmother. The art piece is beautiful, the comments and wonderful poem, lovely. The photographs captured the moments we were first reunited with her through the happier moments we shared with her. The music was perfect. Thank you to my children for their time and willingness to share all of their love of their Granny Kay with all of us.
Thank you Allison, Michael, for bringing these incredible images to us, these perfect words. "the lasting effects of her beautiful life" - how she would modestly turn aside, laugh a bit. perhaps into her raised hand, and smile at that thought.
but you, we, all know the truth, of how she has changed -- and today, still, changes the world. thank you both. i'm overwhelmed at this eloquence. -- and the painting. oh. she would love it, love it, love it.
i love you,
kate
thanks everyone. the painting belongs to Darice (although I still have it, sorry Darice) I posted about it here http://allisonday.blogspot.com/2011/03/flowers-pink-and-pretty.html
She pointed out the painting had reminders of Grandma woven throughout it and I agree.
Post a Comment