Family Clusters

Family Clusters Feb 1 2010


I’m on a plane –

The engine hums in my left ear,

Voices babble indistinctly.

Below, black nothing’s punctuated now and then

By spider webs of lights

Where people cluster tightly, feeling safe together.



My trip’s another form of clustering –

Family hastening from far flung homes

To reassert belonging,

Starting to repair the gaping blank

Left in our midst

By one who’s stepped over into Spirit Light.

Briefly we become as one to celebrate the one we loved,

To witness to his legacy of good.

Why, I wonder, do we wait for weeping as our call to Unity?



Reflection

Life – the Play. We play roles in the stories of many lives, although, of course, we get to star in our own. Coming to a Memorial service means a number of things. We applaud the departing one for how he played his leading role – it’s his solo curtain call. My brother-in-law was a loving family member, leaving a legacy of gentle humor and tolerance, courageous responsibility to his family, deep love for his children and those of other family members as well, a love for travel and adventure, a joy in helping others to have fun, and the towering courage to withstand illness with grace and panache. As he aged, he became an avuncular, Santa-like, magnetic giant. He gently supported his wife, my sister Dot, in her own adventures with a petting zoo – Dolly Lama, Sir Francis Drake, Lucy Goosey. Uncatina the horse, Eeyore the donkey and assorted other equines, as well as other ducks, chickens, sheep, and goats. It was a true “peaceable kingdom,” with hilarious and real relationships among individuals of different species – like the goat who fell in love with Uncatina and was never anywhere but by her side, and poor Sir Francis Drake, who stood faithfully by the side of his mate, Lucy Goosey, as she laid piles upon piles of infertile eggs and tried futilely to brood them. Fritz, my brother in law, enjoyed thoroughly playing “Farmer Fritz” on weekends, dressed in his bib overalls, hitching up his pony to a lovely trap and taking visitors on pony rides around the scenic New Hampshire farm .

When the petting zoo became too onerous, once the kids were grown, Fritz graciously acceded to a new family business of golden retriever kennels, with sometimes as many as 20 galumphing puppies at a time occupying every square inch of the farmhouse kitchen, confined to that one drip-dry room by perennial gates across every door. He got a kick out of playing “farmer” to his wife’s lifelong calling to become a “farmer’s wife.” Of course, his day job involved high tech engineering, introducing environmentally friendly advanced chimney scrubbing equipment to paper mills all over the world, leading to prolonged stays in many countries, far from his growing family.

When we come together to celebrate the blessing of Fritz’s life among us, we acknowledge, for posterity and family history, as well as for his heavenly friends, how well he loved; how kindly he cared for those around him, family, friends, and neighbors alike. He was an award winning star in the story of his own life, and a brilliant supporting actor in the plays that represent the lives of us, his family members. He had a long and radiant acting career as a fine human being before transitioning back to his “street role” as a radiant spirit who blessed us by living among us.

All of us, whether we realize it or not while we’re here, are stars in many lives. We bring unique and radiant joy to those with whom we share our love. We love and are beloved.



Tragedy and Life, January 6, 2009

Tragedy is universal, with its grief.

Life here is drama,

Grabbing, squeezing, wrecking hearts today,

From birth to death, Acts I to V.

Then we bow and exit to the Light

Amid applause and tears.

Others rate our life, our role.

Offstage, we rest and wait, living Truth once more.


Props and Costumes January 11, 2009

I step into your closet,

Full of stuff that's now unused,

And realize these are all costumes,

Props for “Earthly Life -- The Play.”

What will you wear for the day’s role –

Overalls, sweats, a blazer, a sheer jeweled jacket?

Will you choose a necklace or a scarf? Earrings?



Acquiring and tending to these objects

Was serious work, consuming life and energy.

As I contemplate this wardrobe full of choices,

I wonder why they seemed so vital,

When now -- suddenly -- so useless.