52 South
Today I am grateful for safe travels to a family funeral and for a warm and comfortable bed in which to rest.
I attended my Aunt Jenny's funeral on Friday and appreciated that I was able to be there. Jenny was my dad's sister. She had been ill with Parkinson's for many years, and she and her family suffered in that time. She died at age 87, and I believe she now knows peace. I wish for peace for her husband of 64 years, my Uncle Nilus, and for their six children and their families.
It was good to see members of my own family and my extended family, as cousins gathered to pay respects. I am thinking especially of Sister Norma Jean, my dad's youngest sister and now the only surviving member of her immediate family. She has said goodbye to both parents and all six of her siblings. It gives me pause to think about the nature of life, the wisdom of life, the full range of feelings that life brings if we truly live it.
I hadn't written a poem in months. Sometimes that is the way it goes. One started coming to me as I drove to the funeral Friday morning. I finished it Saturday morning, as I considered the previous day's events and emotions.
Here is that poem:
And a picture to go with the poem, a sign just a few blocks down from that church and cemetery:
A life well-lived starts with today. It starts with living gratefully in the moment. If not for that, I would have missed this sign and so many others.
I attended my Aunt Jenny's funeral on Friday and appreciated that I was able to be there. Jenny was my dad's sister. She had been ill with Parkinson's for many years, and she and her family suffered in that time. She died at age 87, and I believe she now knows peace. I wish for peace for her husband of 64 years, my Uncle Nilus, and for their six children and their families.
It was good to see members of my own family and my extended family, as cousins gathered to pay respects. I am thinking especially of Sister Norma Jean, my dad's youngest sister and now the only surviving member of her immediate family. She has said goodbye to both parents and all six of her siblings. It gives me pause to think about the nature of life, the wisdom of life, the full range of feelings that life brings if we truly live it.
I hadn't written a poem in months. Sometimes that is the way it goes. One started coming to me as I drove to the funeral Friday morning. I finished it Saturday morning, as I considered the previous day's events and emotions.
Here is that poem:
52
South
Leaving
the edge
of
urban
for
the heart of
rural
on an
early
morning trip,
I
took the on-ramp
for
U.S. Highway
52
South.
Traversing
the winding
roads
and rolling hills
of
my current home state,
I
was treated to
beautiful
skies as
daylight
arrived.
Clouds
and sun
played
together to
beckon
me.
52
South led me
right
into my
native
state,
into
the county
of
my birth and
upbringing,
into
a mix of
emotions
and memories.
Arriving
at my destination,
adjacent
to 52 South,
I
pulled up to the church
where
my aunt’s funeral
was
about to take place.
The
same church my dad’s
funeral
took place 19 years
ago,
also in the fall.
Siblings
laid to rest in the
same
cemetery as their
parents
and brother.
Just
yards off of 52 South,
family
history closes
another
chapter,
even
as new ones
are
being written.
A
generation is
fading
away, as cousins
of
the next generation
speak
of memories that
now
span decades.
There
is laughter along
with
quiet wisdom.
We
are bound together
by
bloodlines, and
brought
together by
U.S.
Highway 52.
A
well-traveled road
uniting
us to honor
well-lived
lives.
A life well-lived starts with today. It starts with living gratefully in the moment. If not for that, I would have missed this sign and so many others.
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