185 posts
I learned from my mother how to love
the living, to have plenty of vases on hand
in case you have to rush to the hospital
with peonies cut from the lawn, black ants
still stuck to the buds. I learned to save jars
large enough to hold fruit salad for a whole
grieving household, to cube home-canned pears and peaches, to slice through maroon grape skins, and flick out the sexual seeds with a knife point.
I learned to attend viewings even if I didnβt know the deceased, to press the moist hands of the living, to look in their eyes and offer sympathy, as though I understood loss even then.
I learned that whatever we say means nothing, what anyone will remember is that we came. I learned to believe I had the power to ease awful pains materially like an angel.
Like a doctor, I learned to create from anotherβs suffering my own usefulness, and once you know how to do this, you can never refuse.
To every house you enter, you must offer healing: a chocolate cake you baked yourself, the blessing of your voice, your chaste touch.
Yes, you can bet your last penny by sharing your every experience.......π€π€π€
I will answer any question you ask
I will answer any question you ask