My grandmother continues to do as well as can be expected considering her age and previous health record. She will be 95 on December 16. Can you imagine the changes she has witnessed in that span of time: radio, cars, television, antibiotics, space travel, computers, just to name a few. In addition to all those externals are all the relationships which have run and continue to run their evolutionary course from inception to conclusion. All of this is quite ordinary except for the span of time she has endured. Somehow, though, I find it quite daunting, this passage of time with all its changes. To me, this ordinary process is so extraordinary! I watch in awe, almost afraid to breath, as though any movement might break the spell. Or perhaps, by not breathing I might be able to stop this relentless passage of time. Perhaps I could keep my grandmother alive forever, something I couldn't do for my mother. The ravings of a madman and the hope of a fool...
I risked a breath today. Grandma shrank another inch. A friend succumbed to cancer. A parishioner gave birth to number 3! The clouds parted at 3:45 p.m., allowing the sun to brightly shine. Then the sun and the rain conspired to create a most spectacular rainbow. What if I hadn't taken that breath?
So my dear friends I am sending this your way in the hopes that across the miles, in word and memory, we might conspire, for a moment however fleeting, to shine a ray of friendship on one another.
I risked a breath today. Grandma shrank another inch. A friend succumbed to cancer. A parishioner gave birth to number 3! The clouds parted at 3:45 p.m., allowing the sun to brightly shine. Then the sun and the rain conspired to create a most spectacular rainbow. What if I hadn't taken that breath?
So my dear friends I am sending this your way in the hopes that across the miles, in word and memory, we might conspire, for a moment however fleeting, to shine a ray of friendship on one another.
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