For the past 16 years, the beginning of March has been hard for me. My mother passed away after a long illness on March 2, 2001. Eight years ago, that pain doubled when my dad passed on March 6, 2016. It is a blessing having the best parents a child could ask for, but it does make the missing them so much harder when they’re gone.
As I remember it, the weather on March 2, 2001 was cold and sunny, very much like it is here today, though I don’t think we had the strong winds that day. I only recall the grief of final breaths.
It Happens Every Day
(dedicated to my parents)
Thinking of you is nothing new;
it happens every day,
not as consistent as a Swiss clockwork,
but as naturally as breathing,
and I miss you as much
as I would breathing, if it should stop.
Outside my window the wind whips the elms
into what would be a ghoulish dance
on a moonlit night instead of this sunny day.
Thoughts of you swirl around me,
small wind-tossed dust devils
threatening to develop into tornadoes
that will swallow me whole if I let them.
If I listen closely, I hear your whispers in the wind.
It’s only your love that keeps me grounded.
~Elise Skidmore ©2017
I love you Elise, hugs!
Love you too, Suz. Thanks for being there.
Very nice – March is my Dad’s birthday so I forever think of him, but always more so in March because truthfully I can’t remember celebrating his birthday, although I’m sure we did in some way or another. I just can’t picture it. Now March is a little harder with my Mom gone because as you saw in my photos, it was also their Anniversary. Never spoke much about their Anniversary after Dad passed. It saddened my Mom. I like to think they are celebrating now.
Your writing creates an image I can relate to – probably what most people can relate to. It’s comforting. Keep writing. I pop in to read when I can.
Thank you so much, Regina. It’s always so wonderful to learn that people are relating to the things I write. I like to think so, but it’s good to hear it. Life and death are the human condition we all share, for better or worse. We may experience and react to them differently, but I think the core is there.
You know how sorry I am for your loss, and how well I understand it. March is a cold month for so many of us. Thanks again for your support.