“Do you want to try playing Ms Patti?” Eric the Piano Man questions, gentle yet intent.
“I don’t think I can. I don’t know how,” Mom replies.
She adores singing, knows the words to hundreds of songs, still remembers them mostly. But she never learned to read music or play an instrument.
Sleeping Woman (1935) A beautiful piece of art by Tamara de Lempicka (see link below)
Eyes open.
A thought bubbles to the surface:
“I’m awake.”
Awareness skips
across my consciousness
forcing me to stir.
I resist.
I burrow deeper
into the folds of the duvet.
I will bury myself
alive today, tomorrow
and the next.
Life is STILL breathtaking….
Take your breath away
Breathe, Susan, breathe.
And you too, whomever you are and wherever you may be, take a deep, deep breath of life with me.
It may be our first in a long series. Or it may be our last. Whichever, we’ve gotta’ take it…
No point writing any words. This video speaks for itself.
A shaft of light settles just so on her white hair. Her eyes are unusually clear and bright: the right one reflects the sun as it shines through the window; the left is hidden in shadow.
“You look like an angel Mom,” I say, caught in the beauty of now.
Sandy wraps a stray wisp around the curling iron, rolls it close (but not too close) to Mom’s scalp, and waits for it to set.
Duke it out with life <3
Journalist, author, motivational speaker and world-record-holding marathon swimmer Diana Nyad made five attempts to swim from Cuba to Florida.
She first tried at age 28 in 1975.
She failed.
XOX
Merry Christmas from Pinkie Patti and I in frosty and frozen Canada to you, wherever in the world you are.
