It’s only 9:42 AM, but I’m going to post my blog right now. Today, the writing contest I’m in will start at 1 PM. Tomorrow, at noon, it will end. I won’t have any time to work on my blog tonight, but will let you know all about the contest tomorrow.
A few months ago, I sent in my entry with my $5 entry fee. Today at 1, I’ll receive an email detailing the topic, the number of words, where to send what I write and the rules of the competition. I’ve participated in this contest before and really enjoy the challenge, even though I’ve only ever received Honorable Mention. I’d love to win just like every other contestant, but, in the meantime, I plan to enjoy the process. I hope my imagination is working overtime today.
Speaking of “In the meantime…” that is the prompt for today. As always, you can stop reading here if you’re not interested in reading my response to the prompt.
As the years pass by, it seems as if more and more of those I cherish pass away. In the meantime, in spite of the many bruises in my heart from the loss of these dear loved ones, I carry on.
The first person whose death I remember was my Uncle Ike. He and my Aunt Kitty, who lived about eight miles away, had six children: Tommy, Anita, Gerry, George, Jimmy and Denny. My brother Ray and I used to spend a lot of time at their house. Gerry was about my age and George was about Ray’s.
A short distance down from Uncle Ike’s house, a creek ran along side of a road. In a tree above the creek was a rope. One of my most vivid childhood memories was the adventure of swinging across that raging creek on the rope. When I visited there after Mark and I were married, I couldn’t believe that the “dangerous” creek had turned into a dinky little drainage ditch. I prefer to remember it as I remember it and now how it really was.
My cousin Anita, who was a few years older than I, taught me how to play “Heart and Soul” and “Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, guess I’ll eat some worms” on the piano. Isn’t it funny what you remember?
A year or so after Uncle Ike died, my cousin Gerry was killed in a car accident. This happened in 1952. Gerry and I were both seven years old. I remember the year because it’s the same year my brother Jeff was born.
Over the next fifty or so years, so many have passed: my aunts including Lana, Ruth, Iona, and Lillian; my uncles including Bert, Paul, Nate, Kenneth, Floyd, and Glenn; many cousins and many dear friends. In the last ten years, my beloved husband Mark, his brother David, my sister-in-law Fumi, my own dear mother (just last year) and my cousin Alger a few weeks after that. Just recently, my special friend Dave Parks passed on. He and his wife Carolyn and Mark and I spent many hours together over the last forty-some years.
In the meantime, my memories of all of them bring smiles and tears. Each person has a place in my heart with his or her own set of unique memories. I could recount them all for you, but it would take months to write it all down. In the meantime, I can think of them and smile and laugh and cry.
Even better than pulling out these thoughts when I’m alone is that there are a few people still living who had a part in making these memories. When we get together, we’ll bring them up and share a laugh and a few tears. If we’re lucky, there will be others who knew these folks but who weren’t there when the memory was being made. We have the pleasure of making sure others
Just last night David’s wife Esther and her son Steve and I shared some special memories. I felt especially close to my departed loved ones while we were reminiscing. It made me long to be with them all again. In the meantime, I’ll continue enjoying my life before I pass on to the next where I’ll see them all again. I can picture it now: all of us in heaven laughing and enjoying those memories we made together.
Until next time…
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