Saw this on Meg's beautiful blog today and it gave me chills. It immediately reminded me of my dad towards the end of his life. How his body became frail, his mind abstract, his touch almost non-existent. He had previously been depressed about his deterioration, yet became increasingly light-hearted towards the end. I imagine these words somehow touch on what he must have felt like. Yes, chills. Goosebumps.
"The day he first told me he
was starting to disappear I
didn't believe him & so he stopped
& held his hand up to the sun & it
was like thin paper in the light &
finally I said, you seem very calm
for a man who is disappearing &
he said it was a relief after all
those years of trying to keep the
pieces of his life in one place.
Later on, I went to see him
again & as I was leaving, he
put a package in my hand.
This is the last piece of my
life, he said. take good care
of it & then he smiled & was
gone & the room filled with the
sound of the wind & when I
opened the package there was
nothing there & I thought
there must be some mistake
or maybe I dropped it & I
got down on my hands &
knees & looked until the light
began to fade & then slowly
I felt pieces of my life
fall away & suddenly I
understood what he meant
& I lay there for a long
time crying & laughing at
the same time. "
Brian Andreas
Story People
No comments:
Post a Comment