Janet's lush and wild garden
June 16, 2013
The papers were signed yesterday. It's time to say good-bye. I will miss this piece of land with an ache in my heart, even though I first laid eyes on it only 7 years ago. Perhaps my ache is more for the fiercely independent woman who has lived and breathed and sweated and loved and found solace here for 39 years. There will come a time when she will not remember, but for those whose lives she has touched, we will collectively remember for her.
We were expecting this for a while, yet we had no idea how it would actualize. A springtime attempt to keep an insistent robin from attacking himself against the dining room window led to a hurtful of cracked ribs. Then came the trickling and disturbing discovery from the medics, the doctors, the friends, and the neighbors that 911 calls and hospital visits had become a weekly occurrence. Did she not tell us out of concern that we would worry and fret over her, or did she simply not remember? The decision to move came before she was ready, and she was excruciatingly angry at us. The surprisingly wonderful part about memory loss is that she quickly forgot she was mad. And so it goes...
We were expecting this for a while, yet we had no idea how it would actualize. A springtime attempt to keep an insistent robin from attacking himself against the dining room window led to a hurtful of cracked ribs. Then came the trickling and disturbing discovery from the medics, the doctors, the friends, and the neighbors that 911 calls and hospital visits had become a weekly occurrence. Did she not tell us out of concern that we would worry and fret over her, or did she simply not remember? The decision to move came before she was ready, and she was excruciatingly angry at us. The surprisingly wonderful part about memory loss is that she quickly forgot she was mad. And so it goes...
4 comments:
A sense of place can be so important to us even when the people and places change.
Hey, Cindy, do you see a part of Dipper Ranch in my description of Janet? I feel that sense of place for the family farm. My dad sold off parcels of it before they finally sold the house. There are orchards now where cows, sheep, goats, and geese once roamed in the pastures, and houses now where fields of cotton, wheat, and corn grew. It will always be home in my mind, even though I've lived other places for longer.
What a beautiful garden...I love the wildness.
Thinking of you all as this transition is still fresh. How kind of you to sell belongings so cheaply so others could enjoy pieces of this woman's life!:) I bet folks so enjoyed their treasure hunting.
Thank you, Jennifer and Steve. I never realized how social and neighborly garage sales could be. It was a wonderful experience sharing stories with so many different folks.
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