SWEET SERENDITY

SWEET SERENDIPITY

In the work a day world we decorate our tiny spaces with kids pictures, Holy cards, colored
calendars of places we hope to visit, mottoes and perhaps a living plant, all to remind us there
is a life, a real life beyond this carpeted jungle of padded half walls and whirling machines,
the constant ring of phones and conversations laying over one another weaving a blanket of noise.  

Within us there is still one small voice calling us to be more, have more, receive more of
life – real life, the life we nurture and protect at all costs from this harsh artificial life.  
Through the years, from the days of youth when laughs came easily and we each one
knew “We” would not spend out time in “Gopher land”as we called the office filled with
cubicles where heads popped up to talk when a spare moment allowed.  Then came the
years of struggling to make what we did most of our waking hours seem important,
fulfilling and yes even satisfying. As if these endless conversations and streams of paper
in and out of various receptacles meant something.  

No matter what the “business” in the end – it was never an end in itself, only a vehicle
carrying us from paycheck to paycheck, from some unintended beginning to a sudden stoppage,
whether of our own desire or another’s.

Looking back over the years of Monday mornings through the Friday afternoons of frenzied
excitement for the coming release for some short time away, what did it all mean?  What was
it about and most important of all, was it worth our limited time on earth? But, having said
this there is yet one aspect of our working life that should not be overlooked or under evaluated
– the deep and lasting friendships some of us formed.  The friendships born of mutual
hardships and shared sorrows bought by the passing years. Despite the artificial light and
forced elbow rubbing some of us formed friendships that outlasted our jobs. What a sweet
blessing this has turned into as we travel through the years. What a sweet unexpected surprise
to find our old friends are still the best of friends especially those that toiled with us, side by
side, in Gopher land.

Evening Shadows

Evening falls on my castle walls

shadows fall

upon the casement

Night calls

I love the shadows of

light laying lightly upon

the air

Such solace is rare

Shadows caressed space

Day pranced

thoughts, all cares

erased.

Let silence embrace

Let the moment resolve

devolve, resolve

peace make its case

End the endless race.

JULY 2018

Sam, A Life of Love and Service

Tonight as I drove home from Sam Spector's funeral, I watched the sky turn from day into night. The trees were black cutouts against a deep gray quilt of clouds with open seams of silver. I thought I glimpsed the light of the stars behind the clouds. As night came on the seams were drawn together by the hand of night until the darkness was complete. Somehow this made me think of Sam. Maybe it was because he was such a bright star in the morning of our lives and our lives seem a little darker now that he is gone. He radiated joy and strength and confidence. He made you believe anything was possible. He was a sweet person with a solid core of goodness. Somehow, I knew that no matter the circumstances he would make things right.

As age began to take its toll on him, he never complained of pain or admitted to any aliment. He literally “soldiered” on. When he was 86, he could walk my feet off!! I have a memory of trying to keep up with him as we trotted down cobblestone streets in Rome.

Yet, time is a theft to all of us and Sam was no exception. Time did its best to rob Sam of memory. He did lose the names of common objects, but somehow he kept going and never let on that things were getting difficult for him. It seemed that as long as he had Virginia, he had everything he needed.

Some years ago,Sam told my brother (his son-in-law), that even if Virginia just left the room, he missed her. Knowing this, as hard as losing him was, I think his losing her would have been much, much worse. Now, he will never know that pain. Virginia, dear, loving, patient Virginia does know this deep pain. No one can hold it away from her. Only she can bear it. After all, Sam and Virginia spent 70 years as man and wife, loving one another, raising a family having thriving careers and living the dreams they shared as young people in the wake of World War II. Still, I think she would rather it be this way. Love is like that.

Losing Sam is such a blow to all who knew and loved him. Our world has become poorer by this loss, but so much rich for the many gifts he give us. These gifts will live on in the lives of all who knew and loved him, those who benefited by his heroic service in World War II, the children of Malmar (formerly known as Burma) in the school and library he helped to found, the students he taught and all the people he mentored, people living in the many homes he built and, every life he touched. It is as if he left a road map for our future, one labeled, “How to make the world a better, kinder place for all”.Yet beyond all of this that I write, there is much more. His family, Virginia, Julie and Tom have intimate knowledge and understanding of Sam; his life and the reality of his magnificence and the indelible marks he made on them. Much of his story is only known by them.

Heaven is graced with another star. May we look heavenward and think of you when the stars peer down upon us, Sam.

AGAIN

The flags are at half mast (again)

(Sweetie, did you remember your lunch?)

The pain is just beginning (again)

(Don't forget you have a dental appointment at noon)

Whose child will not come home? (again)

(Be sure to make your bed, Nana is coming to visit)

Send out word, guns must be banned (again)

Of course, it is not guns that kill

(Please tell me where my child is! I can't reach them!)

There is a bloody floor where the teens were gathered

Young souls have been ravished and torn.

Cries rise up and the moans of agony are heard. (again)

Senators, don't bother lying (again)

we already know your pockets

are larger than your consciences.

(Of course, America needs AK-15's and AK-47's)

We need to have them!

After all, the NRA says so, right?

Save the sloppy excuses and “oh, so sorries”

for your reelection speeches.

Save them for the people whose children's

Blood has not been poured out in a hallway or

classroom. (again)

Lady Liberty is weeping for her children. (again)

Remember, all you Power brokers and Law Makers,

The mills of God grind slowly,

But they grind exceedingly small.

Valentine's Day 2018

Oneata Windler