rose and marshmallow...

hi everyone.

We're getting a blizzard here today...

this is only the beginning, taken earlier this morning.

But i have wine, so all is well. :-)

I am posting something i painted and wrote
about a week ago.

****

i just came back from my parent's place.

My father's place, now that mom is gone.

i spent a few hours there,

sorting some of mom's things…

baskets filled with her makeup,

creams and lotions,

nail polish, lipsticks,

expired medication.

Half empty bottles

sitting next to

christian crosses

and religious medals.

Empty promises

and prayers.

It felt very strange to open a tube of lipstick

and to know that she used it

only a few months ago.

To find medication,

for muscle pain

and itchy scalps

and mouth sores

and sensitive skin -

the lovely effects of chemotherapy.

It is a strange weeding out

of things.

What to keep and what to trash.

As i looked at expiration dates,

i thought about how

nothing is permanent.

Even the eye drops have a beginning

and an end.

A kind and generous soul asked me

the other day

if i had reached the anger stage

of grieving yet.

i replied no, that I hadn't,

and that i didn't think i ever would

because in my mind and heart,

there is no one to be angry with.

The doctors and caregivers

did everything they could

for my mother.

My mother

did everything she could for herself.

Compassion is much healthier

for the heart

than anger.

Life doesn't go on forever

for any one of us,

and sadly, some lives end

before we want them to.

that's just how life is.

At least that's what mom would tell me.

xox