Letting Go

Thought for the day:  I've told my children that when I die, to release balloons in the sky to celebrate that I graduated. For me, death is a graduation. [Elisabeth Kubler-Ross]

I've been thinking a lot about that Kubler-Ross quote since my mother-in-law died. Probably because it pretty much summarizes how Mom felt. Death was nothing to fear. It was truly a graduation, and something to embrace. And she rose to the occasion with a smile on her face.

And a poem arose in my mind...




                                                  The twine wound tight around my wrist,
                                                  I gripped it fast within my fist.
                                                  But she danced in the wind 
                                                  And pulled at me,
                                                  As though she begged 
                                                  To be set free.

                                               
                                                 With heavy heart and tear-filled eyes,
                                                  I let her go,
                                                  Then watched her rise.
                                                 Up higher and higher,
                                                 She soared for miles...

                                                           
                                                         I can see her no longer.
                                               

                                                        
                                                        But I know that she smiles.

                                                         Alice Swiderski, 1925-2012
                                                        (And what a DASH she had!)

 I've gotta tell you this story... this true story. The only thing Mom expressed any regret about was that she wouldn't be around for the birth of her next great-grandchild, who's due in October. But she quickly smiled about it, and promised she'd "go pick out a good one". The afternoon after Mom was buried, a Mylar balloon "walked" down the sidewalk in front of my mother-in-law's house. It just ambled down the street about three feet off the ground, trailing its string behind it, and then stopped in the area between my mother-in-law's and sister-in-law's houses. It TURNED up the driveway, "walked" up to my sister-in-law, stopped again, and then bounced up to gently hit her in the face. Several times.

Know what it said on that balloon? "It's a boy."

                                     Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.