~ ~ ~
A ship sails and I stand watching 'til she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says, "She's gone."
Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large now as when I last saw her. And just at that moment, as she's pulled away from my vision and someone says she has gone, there are others who are watching her come over the horizon. These voices take up a glad shout, "There she is!!!!" Grandpa, Aunt May, her father who she found dead when she was only a young girl, all those who have gone before her anxiously await being reunited once again. And that, that is what dying is. A new and different horizon.
And oh, those of you with her now, don't think for a second she will let you rest easy. It's time to get to work. Time to clean everything in sight. Time to do your leg bends, your light weight lifts, have that one can of beer a day for good health. The firecracker of a woman has returned to you. Keep her well. Make her laugh. Love her.
~ ~ ~
And I'm left with these tokens. A ring. A necklace Mom bought her once. A flower that will fade away.
