Reawakening
If something reawakens an issue, or an interest or feeling that you used to have, it makes you think about it or feel it again.
Pat's Funeral
Some of Pat’s friends and there were many assembled in Pat’s house. There would be more at the church.
The car is here, said Anne.
“Looks like a funeral car,” said Jossie. “Who ordered that?”
Anne said, “Pat’s parents. They have organised the whole thing even though Pat had told everybody what she wanted or rather what she didn’t want. Still, we have to accept that funerals are for the living, not the deceased. At least it will accommodate all of us. Come on.”
When they arrived at the church, the rest of the women’s group were waiting. Pauline handed out the posies of forget-me-nots to all the women.
The hearse arrived with the coffin and Pat’s family walked behind it as it went down the aisle. The women walked behind carrying the posies of flowers.
Chris had this insane thought that they looked like bridesmaids in a wedding procession. Of course, everyone praised Pat. She had been an amazing woman.
But no-one knew how much she had meant to her, Chris. How on earth would she continue to live without her? Chris didn’t speak at the funeral because she didn’t want everyone to know the depth of her feelings. Also, she knew she could not stand in front of the congregation without collapsing into tears.
All the women gathered together outside the church and Anne organised them into cars. They drove in a convoy to the lake. At the lakeside, they stood in a circle and held hands. They all spoke. Pat had been a powerful and beloved member of the group. She would be missed. But Chris said nothing. None of them knew just how close she and Pat had been. The only thought in Chris’s head," Was how was she going to continue without her?Pat had been her mentor, her rock and her guiding spirit."
The women broke the circle and walked close to the water. They threw the flowers on the water and watched them float away and then sink. They held hands again.
Anne began to sing," You can’t kill the spirit, she is like a mountain, old and strong, she goes on and on and on-----“
They all joined in and sang over and over until the light faded.
As they sang, Chris felt the strength and power and love that she had always had from Pat. They dropped hands, turned and walked silently back to the cars. Chris knew that Pat’s spirit would enable her to face the future without her.
Chris closed the front door and leant against it for a few minutes, eyes closed. It had been a long, tiring day. Now that it was over, it was time to look forward. Things would never be the same as before, but maybe that didn’t matter. Fresh starts are golden opportunities.
Patch
story, chapter 8.I am now the Queen of the settee even though the French woman calls me Queen Mother because I love to roll on my back and to stretch, leaving few space for the others to sit. I can't say that I get on well with the other cats, in fact I tolerate them as they are in my house and my garden. They ignore me as much as I ignore them. On the whole I'm happy like that. The food is good, the water always clear and fresh, the fire is on 7/24. The FW is very kind to me, stroking me a lot and she speaks English to me, even if I have improved my French, I appreciate that lot, it reminds me of the Boss. The Boss must not worry for me, I am being well taken care of and loved. I have decided to socialize with the French man and woman's friends, and now I come to them and I let them stroke me, I am no longer shy or savage with people, I even like a nap on the FW bosom ! Well that is all for now, its time to have a good rest..
Dorothy Rowe "The first group I call "People Persons" or extraverts, and the second "What Have I achieved today Persons" or introverts...
I have found that introverts always know what is the most important to them but many extroverts do not, usually because they find it difficult to distinguish what........."
As an extrovert charges their inner batteries with other people, as
> Rowe theorizes, it does make sense they would not want social isolation.
> Perhaps isolation is too strong a term. Perhaps extroverts need
> greater outer connection then introverts. To an outgoing extrovert.,
> an average introvert may seem isolated.
" How I interest myself," V. Woolf
What introverts need from external reality is something new to think about.
This speaks to my condition. Head space to think. Not head space to think about doing things or using thinking space because I am doing something.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
If I get enough, food for thought that is , then I do not need to consume so much chocolate. cakes and cookies.
I hope I don't have to look for it again.
"Even when we feel healthy and physically secure we have every day to find some optimum balance between our need to be an individual and our need to be a member of a group. If we go too far one way we are threatened with loneliness and isolation, and if we go the other way we are threatened by being swallowed up in the group. So every day we have to find an optimum balance between freedom and security. We cannot have both. The more free we are the less secure; and the more secure the less free. D Rowe ‘Beyond Fear’.
Quentin Crisp---"People say,"Well it helps to kill time." I don't want my time dead. "
Among all kinds of gifts, I give you most of all time...
