2 Days Til' Thanksgiving!

~My Life-Long Friend, Audrey Colvon Spicer~

Today, from a distance, my wounded heart aches for her

As We Celebrate Helene, her Beloved Sister To Her Eternal Home

In Washington D.C.

I received a phone call yesterday from my oldest and cherished friend Audrey, telling me that our beloved Helen had died peacefully with Hospice care in her home; Audrey and her daughter Happy right there with her. They had been her hearts and her care-givers for a very long time and peacefully she died, with the watchful eye and loving care of Hospice. Funny... me having just written about Hospice this week. My heart aches for them, they are family; we have history that spans most of my life. Happy calls me "Auntie". As I write this my heart is wounded; Roberta Flack is blaring in the background and I am absorbing her music, her soothing words, the rhythms allowing me to sway and to remember. Both aching with great sadness, while joining from a distance as Audrey, Happy and many others gather to "Celebrate her Home". I am sending prayer of strength; wrapping my arms around them tightly to hold them strongly for those moments when they feel weak in the knees; making sure they stand strong when they need to. I am whetting my breath with prayers of healing that will travel on the winds from Florida to D.C., I am wanting to be there.

On the phone I told Audrey, "Just say the words; please say the words... I will take a shower, and go to the airport! I will beg if I must, but I will get on a plane and I will be there for you and with you to celebrate her home"! Audrey said no, there was no need for that now, but maybe later. And then she asked the question... "Sher, do you think I will be strong enough to speak the words that need to be said to honor her; to read from my Bible, First Corinthians 13, Chapters 1-13 ... and then to say the things that need to be said"? Through my quiet tears; I pulled myself up, and threw my krumpled kleeenex on the table; while gathering my warrior strength so that my voice would not quiver, and I spoke... "Do I think you will be strong enough? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? YOU are the sister of Helen... YOU will speak, and speak from your heart and from the words of Corinthians in your Bible. YOU will speak your truth; Helen will see to that and on that you can be sure. She will give you what you need; the strength will come, and you will be all that you need to be. Just think, she and Granny are together watching us now, boy are we in for it".

She said that was all she needed; to be reminded of the power within; the things that Helen had taught her all of her life, and the life she and her sister had lived so well and for so many years. And then she began to remember the old days; the days of Helen's life and the gifts she had given; the accomplishments, and all the many years and moments....

I reminded her of the days when we would listen to Roberta Flack, Patti Labelle, and then tell Helen how the words and the music made you just "feel good all over"! Audrey then reminded me that Helen used to know and work with Dr Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, some of her nursing life, and wasn't it interesting that I had grown up to follow in those moccasins differently but then again...

The circle continues; the medicine wheel of life, love, balance and interconnectedness if you will. 

What a sad day this is for me I am realizing; a bitter-sweet day intermingled with such gratitude and blessings.

I hurt so for Audrey and her daughter named "Helene" named after Helen... but when she was but a little one she got nicknamed Happy and it just stuck! Now a young woman, a teacher (just like her Mom Audrey was)... she bought her home right next to her Mother Audrey and her Auntie Helen (they too shared a home), just to be close by. The real truth is; theirs is that rare and beautiful love that we just don't see much anymore; transitioning from parent, Elder, Child to friends.... Respect and fun through the good and the bad. I am glad they are that close, they will need that closeness to get them through the days and months ahead, especially since we are now in the holiday season.

I'm having to dig a little deep today for  the strength to write and focus... but get out your pen and paper.

Ready, WRITE THAT ONE THING YOU ARE GRATEFUL FOR, THAT ONE THING YOU ARE FEELING BLESSED TO HAVE IN YOUR LIFE RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW.

And so for today, with an ache in my heart, along with great gratitude and the many blessings. I leave you with the words of Patti Labelle as she performs with such amazing grace, and I hope that Audrey and Happy will that performance somewhere and watch, feel, and krumple a kleeenex as they hear  her sing, "When You've Been Blessed, It Feels Like Heaven"...

When you've been blessed...feels like heaven

When you've been blessed...feels like heaven.

I have faith, I have hope. And I trust in the day

When the music from heaven will show us the way.

It's a garden of music, it's a garden of love,

And we are all HIS children sharing gifts from

above.

When you've been blessed....feels like heaven, feels

like heaven... so pass it on, just pass it on!

Blessings to you and yours today, and all days, in all ways.

Walk In Beauty.

Author of Healing Heartaches, Stories of Loss and Life

http://healingheartaches.com/