Ipperwash-The Child Returns

To be a child once again, when each day was a new beginning and time was irrelevant. There is a pure wisdom of youth that transcends the limitations of reason. There is purity of spirit and belief. A beauty of the soul without even awareness of it's existence.

But, wherever the wanderer travels, the places of youth are a powerful magnet, a continual, bittersweet tug. In the mind's eye, there are no time passages. In one surprising solitary moment, the natural world aligns itself again in the windswept sand, the brooding clouds and the waves sweeping against the shore. As the seagulls cry and ride the wind, with them comes a phantom, youth's caress. A reprieve.

Sunlit Whisper

Golden,glorious sun ebbing away into twilight. Listen to the rustling..... Spirits in the dusk beginning to stir. The colours bleed fast away into shades of grey, casting a chill against bare arms. The mind envisions a chair next to the fire, in the lamplight, safety behind closed doors. The children of the morning flee night's opening hands and leave that dark embrace for the creatures of the shadows.

My Mother's Necklace

My mother gave me her pearl necklace. My mother gave me life. She was the light that shone through childhood fears in the dark, the weaver of threads into the complex colors and patterns of the fabric that became me. She used all the threads, even the dark and black ones, so I could understand the beauty in the brightly colored ones. She spoke of love, respect and kindness through her quiet example. She taught me to be proud of my achievments, but not take myself too seriously, have the ability to laugh at my short comings. She never got further than the 6th grade, yet she overflowed with knowledge and read everything with a passion for learning that she shared with her children. She taught me that my intelligence was my true beauty and it would serve me best, last longer and be far kinder than a mirror.

My mother is 90 and battles alzheimers. Some days she does not know me. Some days she does not know herself. And yet, even now, she teaches me. I learn bravery and determination by the way she finds a way to stay positive and still poke fun at her failing memory. "My mind is the thing I use to forget with" she will say.

I learn optimism. "I can't remember much today... I may as well just go to bed then. Everything looks happier in the morning in the sunshine." I learn dignity, in the way she retains grace and a sense of propriety, even during the most demeaning moments, like when she must allow a stranger to bathe her. I learn the deep value of family and how, in times of need, it is our family we want near, to give us comfort. And so, I wear my mother's necklace, to remind me of who she was and who she is, to remind me of who I am and who I will be. It symbolizes the journey we have shared and always will. My mother's necklace reminds me that her blood is my blood and she is the reason that I strive, stuggle and succeed.