Hi my friend,
What’s the good word for today? Are you beginning to see the whispering of spring? We’ve been graced with an early start to the season; as if there was collective impatience to add new colors to the palate. The exuberance of spring delights me – eager pansies, intrepid daffodils, birds returning from their winter perches. And yet…
There is a somber aspect to my perspective. Bear with me – I’ll get to it. When my parents passed away, I was convinced that if I saw a cardinal in the branches of the trees in and around our house, that it was some kind of cosmic message, assuring me that they were ok. We lived in northern VA at the time. You can imagine how foolish I felt when I discovered that the cardinal is the state bird of Virginia. I felt silly for sure and somehow a little disappointed. Was it better to believe the comforting thought or better to be disabused of such thinking? It was better for me, I think, to have held on to the notion that somewhere, somehow they were still here. It became something to hold onto…
Andy and I are circling 70 this year. He is scoping it out a few months ahead of me, and if we’re lucky it will be nothing more than another trip around the sun with many more still to celebrate and enjoy. I have to admit that I’m not ready to be a venerable age, and there is something a little dissonant about the number itself. I’m not ready, even though it really doesn’t matter whether I am or not. I’m grateful to my toes and scared as well. To age gracefully sounds pretty trite even if it is a decent objective.
I guess, there’s a part of me that still dances with ridiculous enthusiasm, still uses my brush as a microphone (when my throat complies), walk with EarPods secure and music that inspires something akin to rhythm, and find the best jeans in the boys’ department at the Gap. I want to believe what I know is unlikely, yet serves as my first line of emotional defense when seventy looms in unsettling kaleidoscopic display.
“In any life, imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been…of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.” Charles Dickens
But for this moment or any following moment there is some invisible thread that connects us to our memories and our tomorrows. I can’t think of any cord – fragile though it may be – that doesn’t extend for longer than my imagination can conceive, perhaps with cardinals flying all around.
Thanks for stopping by, be well and be happy…
Waiting for the Karma Truck 
We have to remember to enjoy the time we have because life is short and dead is for a very long time. 👍
and that thread will never be broken
Thank you Beth
Beautiful. Like sitting with an old friend having a cup of coffee. Swept away. Thank you Mimi.
I think of these posts as conversations between friends – thank you
I love the thought…thank you
Oh, yes, Mimi, age accumulates and somehow my mind manages to somehow feel young and older all at the same time while the body just yelps at me more with each added year. Happy spring to you and Andy both as you approach the well-rounded number.
Hi Mark – what a great description – to feel young and old simultaneously – indeed. And let’s not even discuss the vagaries of aging that can grab you my the throat if you look in the mirror before coffee – stunning in the least complimentary way 🥴. Thank you doe coming by!
Nothing wrong with looking for signs from out loved ones who have past and how do you know it wasn’t a sign just because the birds are common doesn’t mean anything. We all need to live life in the here and now because tomorrow may find us dead, just saying
Mimi – such gorgeous writing as always — and so evocative. It made me think about how many times I have been around the sun. I have believed my father was visiting me with every cardinal I’ve seen since he died. I just read something in a novel or an article — now that I am almost 70 it’s hard to remember where I saw it — about a woman telling her daughter as she was dying, “When you see a fox, it’s me.” Did you read that?
A lovely reflection 💐
Thank you, Val
As you well know, dear friend, I believe deeply in invisible threads. And I don’t care if the cardinal is the state bird of VA, it can also be a reminder of the love you harbor for your parents, the beacon of light YOU are to so many, the return of spring in all is glory, or simply a beautiful bird stopping by to say hi on a glorious day. We see the magic that we want to see in the world, and you are special because you know that and embrace it with all your heart. Love you so….
Hi sweetheart – I replied to this but it disappeared into the ether. I’m not sure I’m deserving of such praise, for I vacillate from the pole of doubting Thomas to magical happenings which defy expectation and demand only faith. You’re right of course ‘we see the magic we want to see in the world’, and heaven knows I’m the better when I attach magic to such sightings.. Much love, m