Monday, July 21, 2003

Eunice's New Morning

Diego, The Cat In the Sack, is delightfully predictable.


Our lives, mine at least, can move along seemingly the same from day to day. The same routine, the same expectations. I know Alex will sleep in, Max will wake up hungry, William will rise with sleepy eyes and a drowsy head. I know the garage needs clearing, the weeds are multiplying and the bathroom faucet is dripping. I know Diego will claim empty sacks, that the Chicas will happily clean pop corn from the floor.

It seems to take a particular kind of difference to realign our point of view or cause a major change. What I am writing about, what I am trying to express is so complex and entwined in different lives and histories, that it merits rough drafts and rewrites, outlines and careful thought...but this is Chicken Blog where there is seldom enough time to just scratch the surface and hope to make a little sense of emotions and events.

Today is a new day for Eunice, my Grandma. She woke up in her room and nothing there was like it was yesterday or last year, or thirty years ago. Today she chose her own pace, her own flavor, and mood. She may have noticed the flowers Mom put in a vase for her. She may have noticed the empty walls and filled them with her own visions and memories. She has time and room now to create her own path, to listen to her own voice.

We have all seen her strength, her dedication, her spiritual grace. We have all felt awe and wonder at her resolve and her generosity, but this is a new day for us as well and I am looking forward to seeing all of Grandmother's gifts and qualities turned on herself. I am happy that she can travel, or rest, cook and eat for her own body, clean and plan for her own satisfaction, and do what she wants when she wants. I am certain that she will regain the splendor and joy of knowing herself, of giving to her own needs.

Something changed, and it seemed sudden, but perhaps it was not. This is a different day, and our expectations are not the same. Whether you know Eunice, or not, she is to be admired, because she learned it is not too late to start again, to release material bonds and even the routine duties and obligations that defined and confined her. She found the resolve and conviction to trust that the strength and love she has always given away, could save and serve her own life.

I greatly admire this woman.

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