I wrote this a year ago and I continue to learn as Dad moves through each step of dementia, aging and increased vulnerability and dependency. Caring for him full time is a deep archaeological dig into the foundations of unspoken stories and the mythic mysteries of life.
Long years.
Long years collapse into a brief moment in time….
When you are young,
summers are long
and the future stretches
out beyond the horizon
If you are lucky to
grow old
You know that life
is much shorter
than you ever imagined
back when your world
was much closer
to the ground
At the starting line
you don't know that people who were once
part of the air that you breathed
will leave one day and never return
-unless of course your childhood is
defined by tragedy
and not long summers and
camping under starry nights….
The vibrancy of your young
energetic body
transforms not long
after the spring time bloom
when the autumn leaves
release the vibrant growth
of such a so very short time ago
And when you are both the observed
and the observer
under the uncompromising watch of
MotherFather Time
your tightly held Stories begin to transform
Old baggage dissolves in the night
resentment takes flight
Wisdom's compassion awakens
and stretches
Her wings
As each breath
and thought
takes us deeper into that place we
came here to grow into
the place where we were always meant to be
Forging new ground in the
foreign soil of the
Soul of Unconditional Love
where Forgiveness and empathy
are euphemisms for
alchemy
and old Stories and
unspoken wounds
are set free…..
This is what caring for a once
strong and vibrant
frail and vulnerable
Father is teaching me….
