For Thor - 17 - Wolf

Moonstruck is one of my favorite movies for many reasons, not the least of which is that love always wins. I also adore the part where Nick Cage's character, Ronnie Cammareri, laments about his ruined life because his fingers got cut off in a slicer after which his fiancé left him. He blamed his brother, Johnny, for this for years since Johnny was there talking to Ronnie when it happened. Cher's character, Loretta Castorini, has a heart to heart with Ronnie to try to convince him to forgive "the bad blood" and come to the wedding - her wedding - to Johnny. She points out to Ronnie that he actually sliced off his own fingers. Like a wolf caught in a trap, he chewed off his own foot to escape the trap of marrying the wrong woman. She points out that the part of him that is a wolf is not afraid to do what is needed to keep him from falling into the wrong life situation. He has to live with knowing that a big part of him is a wolf that could do that. He's lived in fear, cowering before his own strength, knowing and potential for years. Happily, love awakens him.

Thoughts, even those silent, subconscious thoughts, create our reality. I'm supposed to be living a purpose-driven life. Instead, I stalled out in a twilit land living a quasi-life. I've set-up housekeeping here, put up drapes and dusted the nik-naks. This is not how to live up to the highest calling. I've been asleep at the switch and on cruise, denying a host of signs and invitations to move to higher understanding. I've consciously avoided or minimized change, purpose and growth in favor of busyness. I lost the drive and fearlessness for living authentically in favor of living comfortably. I've strayed far from the path of auspiciousness and truth and have caused pain to others along the way in my cowardice and apathy.

It was going to take something really big to blow this interior castle of bullshit to smithereens and then demand of me…what the fuck are you doing here? Remember! I have been given the wake-up call to trump all wake-up calls…my son is dead. And on some cosmic level, because I don't believe that Life just happens to any of us - I am integral to this storyline.

I could take this assessment and sink into a good long bout of abject self-loathing. That would probably feel better, and certainly easier, than what I'm being awakened to do. I can't change the past, worrying over that is just a waste of time. I need to find forgiveness within myself for myself for having fallen into this trap built of my own short-comings. We are only given that which is of ultimate benefit to us - that which will bring us closer to each other, closer to God. That is the whole purpose of life here, everything that occurs does so to return us to that awareness. It is all purposeful, even if it is painful. The most painful things may be the most purposeful of all, actually. If I am willing to lean into this pain to seek the truth and express it in my life then I can merge into that purpose.

All of us who love you, Thor, have been hit by dynamite and a big-ass wrecking ball. The castle walls are down. They lay in rubble all around. All the demons that lived in the castle are running wild and wreaking havoc. I am hurt, bleeding and bewildered in this fall-out, as are your dad and brothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. I'm still in triage, nursing the acute agony of my wounds. But even now, my heart is scanning this interior landscape for clues on what's to be done to regain the right road - The Road to Truth. I'll not be rebuilding the walls with these same stones in this same place.

Each day since you died, I pray for Grace to intercede and make bearable that which cannot be borne. Today I am adding a prayer for courage and empathy; courage to face what has been and what must be and empathy to move with kind awareness of my fellow travelers on this horrific road. We are all being called to change and grow. This is scary as shit. We are already nerve-wracked and tired, but we Cant. Stay. Here. There is nothing left of the old life, the old me, the old us that was here before you died. It's gone. We have to pick up the only pieces that matter - our love for each other - and move along. We have to leave the rest behind.

I love you,
Mom

For Thor - 16 - Render

I find myself very serious, thoughtful and emotive these days. There is little or no room for joy. The emotions that encumber my attention are heavy like wet leaves. The words that used to come to help me articulate what is happening are choked because the feelings that emerge are so damned suffocating. I don't want to admit the harshness of how I am feeling even to myself, anymore. I've been depressed with anxiety before…this feels way too much like that and it scares the shit out of me. My little boat won't stay afloat. It slips beneath the waterline and hovers there beneath the surface. I am bailing like crazy with daily prayer and a healthy routine, writing, photography and movies…a lot of movies. Will I find my way back to peace again? Will I emerge from this cocoon with new wings and a new ability to fly? Doubt has gained a little toehold. What to do about that?

We had weekend featuring ever more chatter and busyness. All the activity plunged me deeper into this hole. I am trying to figure out why this happens. What about Life moving on around me causes this hyper-angst and sucking sadness? Laughter physically hurts and often turns to tears.

At the end of a noisy day, I lay down to go to sleep and that is when I am engulfed in the heaviness. The movie theater of memory plays the night you died over and over. The eyes of friends and family reflect back to me the horror, the truth; the one that my mind is still trying to absorb and can't, quite. If it's a good night, I hear your voice and remember your smile and I can conjure your confident swaggering walk and your great sense of humor. But often the memory movie dwells on how you were thrown forcefully out of that truck, hit your head and died right then and there on the ground. How I wish I could have protected you from your own volition, your own brash cockiness, your own date with fate. Then the movie moves on to that horrible moment when I saw you laid out in a casket. I held your hand and it gutted me that it was so cold. All I wanted to do was warm you up. I wanted to transfer every bit of life energy and warmth from my body to yours. I would give all of what I am to see you released from this terrible new story line.

We say, and I know this to be true, that the body is merely a vehicle for spirit to walk about and experience Life. Like a coat, the body is shed when it is no longer usable and the spirit moves on. I just have to say that I really, really liked this coat, Thor. Like a lot. And I really, really liked you walking around wearing it, sweet boy. So the physical Mom's heart is ripped to shreds and still bleeds freely. The spiritual MA, the one that is so connected to the Real You, expands and grows toward that Divine Love with each day and knows that any story of this plane is limited and subject to change.

I can't reconcile what is happening around me with what is happening inside me with what is happening at the soul level. I don't know how to move, how to talk, how to walk, how to think, how to laugh, how to work, now. The gulf is so wide and deep that I wonder if I can ever pull these pieces back together.

I've been reading some pretty deep stuff lately to help me come to grips with you dying and how to greet each day that passes. There is solace in spiritual texts, memoirs from others who have traveled this road and even some of the very wise social media memes that pepper my content feeds daily. These gems of wisdom invite me to take heart and seek the immortal spirit where you are whole and hale. While others remind me to be gentle with this earthly mother's heart. They remind me that grief is a process that will slow and ease into something bearable - given time. I have some advice on how to ride the waves that rise up to capsize me. There are many offerings to remind me that you are with me every moment as a bright, shining angel and that you will walk with me as long as I am on this road. I have been told I will never get over it, nor through it.

It's too much. I am overwhelmed with everything, and yet I need everything that is being offered just so I can get by. This is grief work and it fucking sucks. No wonder my little boat is willing to simply slip away quietly into a gray and numb place. Depression offers the illusion of rest for a weary heart. It is not rest, it is a life-sucking energy vampire that lays in wait for me. I have to keep paddling, bailing, striving for --- something. I don't even know where I am going anymore. I thought I had a some coordinates to guide me on this journey. I thought that the discovery of Divine Love would help me find you and would offer an answer and maybe it will whenever I eventually get there. Right now that seems a far off destination when I am in the middle of these ripping gale force winds and crushing currents.

The truth is, this is not answerable. This is not solvable. We are different now. More different than I ever imagined we would be. We are on new headings to places I never imagined existed inside the human heart. I'm gonna get the crap kicked out of me on this road. In this crucible I'll be purified, but not until I've melted and softened in the fire. On this raging sea, I will have to learn to sail and sometimes swim for shore. It's exhausting and consuming to be on this journey of spirit, fire, water, blood and bone.

I fervently pray for Grace to intercede and help me endure what is not endurable. I pray that I can render unto God what is God's; You and me - all of us, really. This surrendered state will offer real rest if I can do it. Render unto God what is God's…

Gah! Like I said, Thor, these are heavy, heavy thoughts. I need a break. Movie, anyone?

I love you,
Mom

For Thor - 15 - Weave

The last couple of days were full. I went to Nana's house for several hours on Wednesday and while I was there your urn was delivered from UPS. It's really beautiful, but it broke my heart. Again. We took a walk down the LOTUS road and I meditated a while at Chidambaram Shrine, pleasant but intense. I visited with Mimi who, at 94, always offers such sage wisdom. She misses you, too. Starr sent me the last pictures ever taken of you. The ones where you and I are dancing in the kitchen. I didn't dare show them to anyone that night. Your dad was so tired and needed to end his night without emotional upset. So, I stared at them and wept, alone.

Yesterday, I had a shiatsu massage, talked with Aunt Elena who called to check in on me. Nana and Grandpa drove me to town, we went to the grocery store and then to your Dad's office. Dad and I had our first counselling session.  We went out to dinner and engaged in some pleasant conversation and even shared a laugh or two.

After we got home, Dad and I played Shadows over Camelot with your brothers. I am not sure if anyone else is marking the Thursday nights at 9:45 like I am. I kept silent vigil as that moment approached. You have been dead for four weeks, my sweet son. I inhaled slowly and deeply to ride the cutting emotions without causing alarm. It would have been cruel to yank everyone away from the small flotilla of joy we were sharing, to make them stop the game and fall into that painful memory.

Your presence in the room, at that moment, was very strong, Thor. I clearly sensed that you are happy for us to be making new memories. I felt the love you have for us and how sorry you are that we are in such pain.

It was a lot to take in.

After we successfully saved Camelot from the Picts and Saxons and we settled into bed, I realized I was deeply troubled. There are cross-currents pushing me in too many directions at once, the pace is too fast. There must be time to absorb what is happening around and inside of me. There is too much talk and too many questions. The world is drawing me back into its rhythm and I can't possibly match it - and I don't want to. The solo-walk and chat with you under the wide-open skies, that is an integral part of my routine for healing, hasn't happened for two days and it is eating at me. It is just as I feared, the busy, noisy world will just traipse along chatty and restless as ever. It will pull me into its heedless pace to where I cannot take this time to grieve for you, the way I need to.

There is no linear progress on this trek. What is progress, anyhow? Today, I think it means I don't feel so acutely horrid or like a refugee all the time. One step forward, three steps back and a big slide to the side. Not so much progress today.

Some mornings I want to scream "Fuck off!" to the sun - like today. I just want to cry and not worry if someone is worried that I am crying too much, or that my tears of anguish cause them angst, or that I don't want to leave the house, yet, or that two days of being out exhausts me, or that I have strayed too far into the deep-end of grief and am approaching the edge of reason. 

Yeah, this is life in the deep-end, alright.

It feels as if I am splintered into several distinct pieces and each one has a different need. I am at once a grieving mother who has lost a son, a mother to living children who are grieving and need their mom, a wife to a husband who is also grieving, a daughter/sister/friend who mourns with and receives from, and a spiritual being who is opening to a bigger understanding of divine love and the greater purpose of life. The pieces of me that are an employee and community member are still darkened and haven't begun to function, yet.

It's going to take time and Grace to weave myself back into wholeness. Like Grandmother Spider who patiently weaves the web of life, I need to settle into the deep, reflective pools of time and peaceful spaces to pull these pieces of myself back together. To weave them into a new design. My life will be forever changed by your death, Thor. I'm never going to be the same me that was before. That's okay. The rich beauty of your time with us and the asteroid-like impact you have on our hearts is being woven into this new pattern. In this way, and a myriad of others, you are always with me. 

One step forward, three steps back and a big slide to the side...  Progress on this new weaving is going to take a lot of time.

I love you, 

Mom

For Thor - 14 - Floe

Normal life. I admit, I resent it and its persistent knocking at the door. How the hell is it possible that the world is still trudging along like nothing happened? I get my fair share of advice from people who may or may not have traveled this road, many of them offering the same words of encouragement; a return to normal life, whatever the heck that means, is going to help me. Help me do what, I wonder? Get through? Get past? Move beyond? Live with? I don't know what or how it will be for me down the road. Is it wrong to say I can't "do normal"? At least, not yet?

I have been testing out ideas to resume my "normal" schedule. It's a dicey business. I poke and prod the notions of work, responsibility and community service like an explorer in the Arctic testing the stability of chunks of ice in a floe. They are not stable enough to stand on, to take action on. Not yet. They would flip me off and into the icy sea in a second if I put weight on them. But like a floe, these pieces of my life, these pieces of me, move along a gentle current. They spin and swirl in eddies of pragmatism and life-affirming need to serve and love others. They gather piece by piece and knit together into new forms. These new forms just may be able to bear weight…

I tentatively test them with a mental probe. Am I ready to take this on? Not yet.
How about just a tiny piece of it? Maybe. This is progress toward the regular pace of normal life. I suppose it's good. I still resent it.

Each moment that passes takes me further away from the you that walked here on this Earth with me. Each moment that passes pushes us deeper into a new dynamic, the one where I don't get to hold you in a hug or share the ups and downs of this life with you here on this Earth. Each moment that passes takes me further away from the warmth of your smile and the sound of your voice. The everyday actions of normal life will accelerate this terrible time slippage. It will distract me as time ticks by and when my attention again turns to reach for you, I will find that you are even more ethereal than before. I resent the shit out of this. I know it's inevitable. I know I must rebound and re-engage. I know…I know… But damn, it's hard to step out into my life when I know you will be left here, frozen in time, forever nineteen. I'll become an old lady, a grandma to your brother's kids. But never for yours. I hate moving forward and leaving this you behind.

The daily ritual that I do each day helps. Hatha Yoga, a little meditation, hot coffee, write to you, sweep the floors, make the bed, walk outside where I can talk to you. Love up your brothers and your dad. I cry when the waves crash over and through me. Each day I gain strength and perspective as I learn to live with your death. The totality of what it means to body, mind and soul is gradually integrated into my being. If that's not a testament to the resiliency and strength of a human heart, Thor, I don't know what is.

New ideas for living a life replete with love, joy, and happiness surface once in a while. Like tiny colored fish, they dart across the sea of my mind and draw my attention for a second before they are gone in a flash, back into the subconscious. It is there that they will continue to grow and bring new patterns for living into my heart. They are not ready to show themselves for long. Not yet. For now, it is enough that I know they are there. They are hope, Thor. Perhaps you sent them to help me find my way back to 'normal' and maybe even, to once again, experience joyful laughter.

I love you,
Mom

For Thor - 13 - Biggest Big

I went for a long walk through unbroken snow yesterday. The sun was bright and the sky offered a beautiful display of clouds that danced across that blue expanse. The wind gently tugged at my scarf and kissed my cheek. I was pulled by a deep need to find some high spot along the road where I could see the rolling lay of the land. I was called to stand on the same ground as you did on your last day. You know where, coming up the trail from the creek, right where Chaz came to "rescue" you and Travis after you two knuckleheads had been "lost" on a long hike in search of a deer.

Home is my restful cave, a sanctuary to recuperate and reflect. Nature is where I am able to move and shift these heavy feelings as I work through them. I told Aunt Lakshmi how all I want to do is lay on a beach and soak up the sun and let the ocean absorb my tears and pain. The ocean is big. A beach is big. A wide open sky is big. I need big nature where I can wail from the depths of my soul and it doesn’t feel overwhelming. If I do that in the house it's too contained, the energy bounces off the walls, echoing and reverberating endlessly. So I seek big nature. On some days, I need the Biggest Big Nature I can find. I would go to the moon and pour this anguish out into the deep abyss of space and let Mars and Jupiter know just what it means to be a human mother.

Eventually, I found that spot where I could see over the hills and the creek valley that is your backyard. I felt you so close there in that moment. So, we had a chat, didn't we? I wailed to the cloud-studded sky, to the sun-dazzled snow; to you.

I would like to have been able to say goodbye to you. I mean if this was really the deal we made, and clearly it was, then it seems only fair that I would be allowed a chance to say," Oh, is it time for that already?" I wish I could have known that you were going on a really, really long trip. And that I would be put on a new road; a new journey, as well. I would have stopped what I was doing, wiped my hands on a tea towel and taken a moment to look deep into your eyes where our souls could see each other. I would hold your sweet face in my hands and kiss your brow and tell you how very much I love you. I would ask if I could pack you a lunch because that's what mothers do when our kids go on long trips. You would remind me that it is okay, even if it sucks epically, and that this is all part of a greater Life Plan. (Who the fuck thinks up plans like this, huh?) We would know with a deep understanding that we'll see each other again, sometime down the road. That the anguish won't last forever, although the transformation will.

We are in this together, Thor. I would not be walking this road if not for your death. You are complicit in this current state of things. As souls that have work to do together, I hold you to the contract of our partnership, sweetheart. You may be a badass angel, but I am still your mom until I depart this life, dammit! I hope that you don't leave us too quickly in search of new adventures. Walk this road with me as my angel guide. Let me feel you near when I have to navigate the rough patches along the way. Let me feel you near when there is joy, again. Walk this road with your brothers and your dad, too. We all need you to help us with this sudden plot twist that has left us all bewildered and unsure.

All this I said, and more. Then I closed my eyes and waited. I heard you in the wind and felt you in the warm sun that dried my tears. You're here with me, with us, for the long haul. Your love is all around me, every moment. Have faith.

I'm glad we found time and a place to talk, Thor.

I love you,
Mom

For Thor - 12 - Sorrow

This shit is deep, Thor. The currents here are deep and wide, slow-moving and powerful. These are not the choppy waves at the surface of this sea of grief. I am sinking into new levels, closer to the heart of the matter.

There is a lot of suffering here. Everything is exposed and everything is moving. Nothing will ever be the same, again. 

This is one scary-ass notion. Fear causes suffering.
I sometimes don't want to expose and feel all these emotions. I don't want to admit you are dead. Resistance causes suffering.
I am wracked with guilt for not doing a better job as your mom and protector. Guilt causes suffering.
I am to blame, even if my logical mind knows there is no one to blame. Blame causes suffering.

Gradually and sometimes with excruciating slowness, these deep currents push me into these painful places. They say this is a natural part of grief, to confront one's own inner blocks. They say that all my "stuff" will surface. I think of a seawall where waves crash against it and are amplified to great heights when they hit that resistance.

Well, Thor, I have a good raging sea crashing the shit out of about a dozen seawalls all at once. Deep currents push and pull me in many directions at once. It is spectacular and exhausting. The spiritual teachings I've been given are helping me pray for and access the tools to dismantle these blocks - Grace being the main one. I pray hard for Grace to intercede. This is so deep and so wide I must have help. Help has come. I am not alone in navigating these tractor-beam currents that could easily destroy me.

I had a great spark of clarity this morning. Suffering is not the same as Sorrow. Sorrow feels good somehow. It's right and appropriate for me to feel deep sorrow. It hurts deeply, but it's the same way it hurts when a broken bone knits back together. It's a healing hurt. I can feel you and the love for you in this sorrowful place. When I am caught in a suffering current there is only agony which causes more damage, and worse, I do not feel you close, at all.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.

And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

My earnest prayer is that we will all be free from suffering. That we will all be free to feel that sweet sorrow as we mourn your death. And that we will all awaken in a state of Grace and be filled with Peace as we take steps forward on that new day with you ever in our hearts, dear boy.

With all my love,
Mom

For Thor - 11 - Vigil

I am a mother who has lost a beloved son, the child of my soul. Mourning your death consumes me. I wonder if I'll ever feel joy again, for real? Scattered moments of amused distraction here and there can draw a smile and even a small laugh, but it doesn't sing from a joyful place in my heart. I laugh because your dad and brothers, and even I, need to hear it. It's a signal that I am not so far gone into this journey that I can't be reached. Even false laughter has a purpose, I suppose. But it's weak and a little pathetic to my ears. It feels out of sync with where I am right now. My whole being is a House of Mourning. Is there room for joyful laughter in these hushed halls or must I abandon them?

The thought of moving out of mourning anytime soon is out of the question. I am rooted here, locked in position like a sentinel standing vigil. This is my privileged duty, to have borne, raised, love, and now, grieve for you, Thor. I will stay here until I can stay no longer. When the sun dawns one day and there is a new warmth, a new glow, shining on me that invites me to move, only then will I abandon this post and take up a new one.

Still, I wonder…can there be joyful laughter in this House of Mourning? Is there room for the deepest anguish and for happiness, too? Do I have to stop mourning you to have a smile reach my eyes? I tried so hard yesterday to muster a good effort for your brother's birthday. It was too soon. I crumbled under the effort and ended up in the bed hugging a stuffed dog. I was put there by your dad who suggested that I needed to take a nap. Grief is exhausting. Later, we did okay. We cooked a nice supper and enjoyed watching some shows together. I know they all notice that I am a little forced in my cheerfulness and a little desperate in my need to hug them tightly.

I say 'I Love You' to them all the time now and I hope they don't mind. Like an amputee constantly touches the remaining limbs to be sure they are there - our family has lost a limb - and so I constantly reach out to be sure they are still here. I touch your dad's hair or hand. I hug Chaz and Xan for a long time so I can smell their hair and sometimes cry on their shoulder. I am reassuring myself - and hopefully them, too - that we are going to be okay. Never the same, but okay as long as we are together.

Lemme tell you what, Thor. I am not even a little bit okay with all of this. But, I am trying my best to be real in each moment and to be open to how I can grow through this experience.

I am in a strange land. The terrain is treacherous. I don't know the way. I'm not scared because I know you are with me.

All I know for sure is that Love holds the key to it all.

The Love that unites us all cuts deep to sever the illusion of separateness and pushes me beyond my human limitations so I can see; we are all one. This is the Love of God. It calls to me to step into a greater understanding of how we are all connected. It can help us all bring more light to the world. This is the real lasting legacy of your life and passing, for those who are brave enough to take it up.

These are the pieces of insight I've gained from standing vigil over long days and nights, unrelieved. It is a sacred place.

Still, I wonder can there be joyful laughter here, too? What good is all this love and light if there is no joy?

Maybe it's too soon and I am not ready. I can hear you say, "Patience, mama. Have a little patience. It will unfold in its own time. Be gentle with yourself. I'll help you along the way."

Good to know I have such a badass angel on my side.

I love you,
Mom

For Thor - 10 - Jumbled

Jumbled.  I am a mixed bag of nearly every possible human emotion today; deep sadness, anger, longing, sorrow, joy, hope, love. They are so numerous and they move so quickly through my being that my nerves feel like they are literally shaking. The hairs on my arms and legs are like trip wires every sensation setting them off. I want the parakeets to shut the fuck up. Their cheerful twittering is a garish invasion of my sensory boundaries. My arms and legs feel weighted like I am swimming in peanut butter. I have a constant headache, right in the middle of my forehead. This is the physical story of grief. It fucking wrings me out.

It also opens my heart in unimaginable ways. I am being transformed in this crucible. Thank God and Grace, I have some tools to help me endure what apparently cannot be avoided.

Meditation is good, I sink into quiet contemplation often. It is here that I get sense higher purpose, order, peace and sometimes, a whiff of joy. I take deep healing breaths; when I can suck the wind all the way down to the bottom of my lungs. If I'm not mindful, it gets hung up in my throat and turns into a half-choked sigh, but I keep at it. The breath moves energy through my system. I move my body through a simple series of Yoga poses to further help disperse and release the pain of sorrow. It helps me find a measure of steadiness, some footing where I might rest and gain some strength. Then I write. And cry. And I ride these waves of intense feeling.

Life marches on, the beat never slows, never pauses. Even for something as life-shattering as you dying, it never paused. Not even for a second. I still don't understand that one, but here we are.

Today is Chaz's seventeenth birthday. It's also your sweet Grandpa's 70th birthday. We are planning to have a party to celebrate life; these lives. The specter of your passing lingers here so strongly, still, that it's going to take some work to pull this off. We need to sever the sadness and mourning from shadowing Chaz's birthday. It's so damn close in time that it will be difficult. I want him to know that even while I mourn you, that I have not forgotten him. And that he is celebrated, joyfully, on his birthday with my whole heart.

We have cause to celebrate and we will celebrate, with joyful abandon both Chaz and Xan and all the milestones, achievements, and markers that they will see in their lives.

Your brother, especially, is going to miss you today although I doubt he will say anything. You know how sweet, sensitive and empathetic he is, I can sense him apologizing for having a birthday at such a bad time. I can see it in his eyes, he is deeply affected by your death. Hurt and wondering how we will go on with this new family dynamic. You've left a void, darling. One that Chaz will grow into making his own mark; the second-born, middle child will become the eldest. You will always be the first, Thor, but you are forever nineteen, frozen in time. Your thread was cut short while the rest of us move along. In two short years, Chaz will be older than you ever will be.

The good news is that we have found someone for them to talk to; a friend, who lost an eighteen-year-old brother when he was twelve has offered to spend some time with Chaz and Xan. In the meantime, maybe you could spend a little extra Angel energy hanging around your brothers? Teenage boys are not known for open conversations, especially about feelings. And more especially when those feelings are really intense.

Dad and I are doing okay. We each have our process for dealing with this, but we are finding each other in moments here and there where we simply hold hands and cry a while. Being snowed in together has been really good for helping us find some connection. Some space to mourn and share together.

You know, I still can't believe you're gone. I keep waiting for you to come through the door looking for something to eat and to have a chat with Mom, some new big idea on your mind that you want to test out on me. I wish you were here to celebrate the birthdays with us. I just plain wish you were here, dammit.

Here we go, again. Cry.
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
Think of Chaz-o and his birthday.

Smile.

Yeah, totally fucking jumbled. 

I love you, 

Mom

For Thor - 9 - Cocoon

Today we are expecting to get our first real snow of the year, Thor. And it's gonna be a whopper! Eighteen to twenty-four inches of the white powdery stuff in central Virginia is most definitely a logistical challenge for our infrastructure. We are prepared with everything we need from firewood and gas for the generator to good food, and most importantly, wine and chocolate. I am sure you can appreciate my sense of priority here.

I am looking forward to being snowed in with your dad and brothers. We need some time to reconnect and begin to figure out how we are going to reform around this hole in the fabric of our family. We've relied on the open love and generosity of family and friends to help us catch our breath and get past the initial shock and horror of your passing. We will rely on them more in the coming weeks. I am still wobbly and shaky, like a new foal. But for today and maybe tomorrow, too, a huge white blanket of snow will settle over us. We are gathered to the hearth of our home and will be together. It feels sacred and necessary to have this time, just we four.

We'll cook up a pot of green chili and watch some movies unless the power goes out (fingers crossed it won't, but you know how it is around here). And if the power goes out we'll break out the board games and oil lamps, like we always have. Dad will press Chaz into helping with the generator since you aren't here. We'll take naps by the woodstove as the quietude of the winter snow gently cocoons us into a deeper peace. There is space for contemplation and renewing rest in the womb of winter.

It will be poignant and unspeakably sad for us. These are intimate family moments that have always included you. We will miss the larger-than-life presence that you carried into every room you entered. And the sweet and funny way you engaged with your brothers in their favorite games that were foreign to you; think Settlers of Catan. The first time you played that with them was hilarious. Your brothers will miss sledding with you. They'll miss riding in your truck with the snow flying high off your tires as you churn down the road - mostly sideways but moving forward nonetheless - a lot of "WhooHooing" along the way. I am pretty sure they are going to be very put out that all the firewood hauling and snow removal has fallen to them. I bet you are laughing about that one, just a little bit. You rascal!

We hold onto each other through this rocky terrain, this rough sea. Together, we weave a patch to knit this hole in our lives. The warp and weft are woven with strands of love, salty tears of sadness and sweet ones of joyful memories. It is our way of keeping you alive in our hearts, but also how we will learn to move on as we take our first steps into a new day. It's how we will come through not just intact, but stronger as a family.

Lord, do I miss you, sweetheart. It's hard to stay with this vision of a future where we are whole and happy again in the wake of your death. Sorrow still rules my heart, but I am trying to raise my eyes to the horizon where hope will dawn. One thing about the dawn, it always comes. 

I love you! 

Mom

For Thor - 8 - Interlude

There is a moment after something really explosive happens when there exists a perfect eerie silence and everything moves in slow motion. I can see the air particles floating and I can see the hair on the dog move with a breeze. I can hear my heart beat. The sound of my breath is loud in my ears.

I am bloodied, standing on weary legs, swaying. Your dad is here, too. We can't talk so well, right now, but that's okay. We are together. When the time is right, we will find the words to express what is in our hearts. We are the gritty survivors of this personal horror. There is nowhere to go, nowhere to be, but here, now, moving forward one excruciating step at a time.

I remember watching an old movie about the Bataan Death March. In moments like this, I feel a tiny kinship to those poor souls. They each walked their own horrible road, silently helping each other along. Never presuming to know the depth of the other's anguish, only that they were in it together.

Damn, I'm exhausted and want to sleep but there is no rest. Not the rest I crave, anyhow. The body is fine. It is my heart that is so tired. Sorrow pulls me into its own flow and I have no energy to struggle against that current. It is the work before me; to live this sorrow. It is a crucible in which I will burn until I am soft and resistless. Only then can I be forged anew.

Only then will I find you again, Thor, in the sacred place where the angels roam and where we are all connected…in that One Love.

A friend shared a poem with me recently that I've reread a few dozen times.

All you can depend on now is that
Sorrow will remain faithful to itself.
More than you, it knows its way
And will find the right time
To pull and pull the rope of grief
Until that coiled hill of tears
Has reduced to its last drop.
Gradually, you will learn acquaintance
With the invisible form of your departed;
And when the work of grief is done,
The wound of loss will heal
And you will have learned
To wean your eyes
From that gap in the air
And be able to enter the hearth
In your soul where your loved one
Has awaited your return
All the time.

~ John O'Donohue

Inexplicably, the world clicks back into motion, its usual hum and banter chatters around me. Normalcy calls. Dad gets up and goes to work. I make coffee and sort laundry. I make breakfast for your brothers. I pay a bill and wash the dishes. I move purely by muscle memory into these tasks I've done thousands upon thousands of times. The blood pumps in and out of my heart. Air is pushed in and out of my lungs. I listen to the world move around me and know that one day, I'll engage again, but not now.

I am heartened by Chaz and Xan, each day. I look forward to seeing their smiling faces and to feeding their hefty appetites. They are suffering, too, and need me. We talked one night about my expression of grief and how that can be scary in its rawness. What I hope they are seeing is that this is how much I love them, too. This depth of feeling is not reserved for you, only, Thor. Each of you has my whole heart. It's one of the miracles of being a mother. What I hope is that they know that feeling and expressing the deep emotion triggered by your death is natural, even if it does suck to the ultimate height of epic suckiness. I hope they know that it's alright to cry, and it's alright to laugh their asses off, too.

There is joy in the world and it is a soothing balm for these wounds. We're gonna go find us a big pot of joy and roll around in it for a while. We are going to go bowling, I think. And out to lunch. We'll see how that feels and take it from there.