Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
--BY Robert L. Frost

This is one of my favorite poems by Robert Frost. I was thinking of it when we went to visit our step-father's grave last Memorial Day and again when the girls and I visited Nana's grave on her birthday last June 14th.

I'm not averse to the idea of death like most people. I have always had this (some think ---morbid) fascination with it. I don't think it's a subject that should be feared, I mean, we all die someday. It's just part of the Universal recycling system. The process of aging, e.g., losing one's sight, feeling the aches and pains as the body "subsides", losing the precious memories that one has accumulated over the years; these are what's scary to me. So when my "dawn goes down to day", I can almost imagine it as a relief. I'm sure some people will have a totally different take on the poem ---and that's what so great about good poetry, it can mean and touch people differently.

I don't push my belief on the children but I don't shy away from the subject when they inquire about it. I think it's wonderful that they still talk to Nana when they see a bird, especially a crow. They believe that she's an angel, angels have wings, crows have wings; thus, Nana is now a crow or a bird. Sounds good to me. They refer to the cemetery as either "Grandpa's Park" or "Nana's Park" and they love having picnics with them at the "parks". My children teach me so much just by their sheer natural perception of things around them. It really is simple sometimes if we (adults) just stopped analyzing everything.

Sad to say Goodbye

The Hawaiians have it right in having just one word for hello and goodbye. My eldest daughter is one who hates goodbyes. She'll say anything, "adios, sayonara, see ya later..." ---just don't ask her to say the dreaded word. She said saying it makes her too sad. I know what she means. We had so much fun with cousin Daisy when she visited us that we just hated to say goodbye. It was truly hard not to get all choked up as I dropped her off at the terminal in LAX. I still had so much to tell her and share and show her, the last few days just didn't seem long enough...and it wasn't.

I am glad that at least we've reconnected and can look forward to the next visit from her and (hopefully) her other sisters who are in Wales, Dubai and the Philippines. Without the advent of the internet and Cousin D's interest in seeking us out, this reunion would never have been possible. So thank you Bill Gates, etal., and thanks cousin D.
Papa flew in from San Francisco just to meet Cousin Daisy (his eldest brother's daughter)