ruminating

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“Maybe the most sacred function of memory is just that: to render the distinctions between past, present, and future ultimately meaningless; to enable us at some level of our being to inhabit that same eternity which it is said God himself inhabits.” -Frederick Buechner

I’ve shared this quote before, and as it happens to be written on the first page of my current journal, I keep rereading it of late, and thinking about it. Thinking about it a bit obsessively.

I’m not sure but I believe Buechner is writing about the privilege of being a writer. Finally, I’m not sure I agree with him. When we read a book, we can dogear a page and go back to it, and when we turn back, when we let our eyes fall again on that page, we’re there. And, yes, it’s seductive, that act of writing the page ourselves. But it’s not the same as dwelling in eternity…is it?

I think this is a poem asking to be written.

Write where you are…

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July is birthday month at our house. Annie and Pearl, even as infants, always seemed to have not one but three or four birthday parties, and this year has been no exception.  Yesterday was the big party here — Bruce and I cooked (hamburgers made with organic farm beef), and generally stayed in the background.

I went to bed early last night, exhausted, but then about the time I turned off my reading lamp, a troop of teenagers (including my almost 13-year-old) took over our backyard. They built a fire and roasted marshmallows. And they laughed. Really loud. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, not exactly, but they seemed to be having an awfully good time.

Needless to say, I did not get up early this morning. But I’m here now, ensconced in my writing cabin, glancing up to see “I dwell in Possibility” — thank you E.D. and the old friend who made the pillow with those words — and I’m writing.

 

Happy Birthday

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Nineteen years ago — at this very time, by the way — my daughters Annie and Pearl were born. Annie was born first, at 6:40, if I remember right. Then Pearl, at 7:06.

“To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each others’ hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time.” – Clara Ortega

Happy birthday, girls. I’m so glad I have you in my life, and I’m so glad you have each other.

Author Magazine Interview with Meghan O'Rourke

"It is so painful and so terrible to go through a loss, but ideally it deepens us and connects us to others." -Meghan O'Rourke, poet and author of The Long Goodbye. 

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Author Magazine Interview with Meghan O'Rourke

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 — click on the link to watch this interview with Bill Kenower. O’Rourke says some wonderfully wise things about how she navigated her grief over her mother’s death.

“It is so painful and so terrible to go through a loss, but ideally it deepens us and connects us to others.” -Meghan O’Rourke, poet and author of The Long Goodbye.