The Emerald Rose

       I guess as we get older we have an ephiphany and it dawns on us that there are major “life shifts” we all encounter through out our lives.  

      As kids we had a major life shift when our parents moved, from one city or town to another, new schools, new friends eventually, all things new,…but we came through it.

      Then there was the whole “teenage thing”, the aggrevation of “girls” was becoming an “attraction” with them. There were no “Being a teenager for Dummies” book, nor any other real guideposts. As awkward as everything was we muddled on, we learned embarrassment, we learned having “two left feet”,….but we came through it.

          Then we moved to our “College/’Novice Adult’/Serious Courting/Partying “years. The endless nights of craziness, the parties we don’t remember leaving from, the slap in the face for whatever they thought we said things, the crush of Finals, the “military equivalent” with those foreign ports, seeing the world, and just being like wow. Some saw war, they saw death, they saw poverty for the first time, they saw the “human condition” and it made a mark, most of us met that “special someone”, or thought we had, and seriously began thinking about deep purposes to our life,…..but we came through it.

        The next shift we met was that of  “the Career/the Family/the ‘meaningful life’. We married, we worked our way up the ladders of work to be more, provide more, and “live more”, we fathered or bore children, and we witnessed the miracles of a ” new beginnings”, we joined PTA, we were Assistant Little League Coaches, Soccer Mom’s, child psychologists, Christmas Eve “toy mechanics”, ushers and chairpeople at out churches, remodeling carpenters, plumbers and electricians, becoming conscious of how quickly time flew, and by how much more we had to do, had to accomplish,..before the sun went down,….but we came through it.

          We then got hit square in the face with “The Senior Years”, children grown, little grandchildren running about, spending more time at the Doctor than we did in the entire our first forty-five years on earth. We took pills, we were required to “eat right”, “exercise properly”, growing accustom to slowing down. Sitting for hours with your spouse, without a real need to talk to “communicate”, picking up on the nuances of years, trying to remember when the last time you watched the “11 O’clock News”, let alone Jay Leno, David Lettermen, or the Colin O’Brians of the world who were just begining as we dozed off,….but we came through it.

         Then the final “Life Shift” began. Death became an integral part of our life. A call from a brother, a sister, a friend, a colleague, even strangers and enemies,….all with the same message,….a message that someone had “passed”. The “old school” Irish were big into attending viewings, or “wakes”, not so anymore, even I avoid them like the bubonic plague. We let people “pass” from our daily lives now, and relagate them to a memory. We try and paint a metal picture of them as we would happily like to remember them, thier smile, thier favorite ball cap, thier favorite beer, whatever became a “precious memory” for us. Or at least that’s how I make it through a “passing”. With the last “Life Shift” comes more frequency, some surprise, some “blessings”, and yes all with a level of sadness,…..but we  will come through it.

         We come through it all, to enjoy another Christmas, anothere New Years Day, another spring, another summer, another Fourth of July, another fall, and another Thanksgiving,…and into winter.

        Eventually our own “winter” will come, and we will  pass, and someone else will be getting the calls, someone else will be forming their memories of us, someone else will be wearing that small mask of  our memory causing a smile, and think of the sadness of our “passing” .

          Allof this shall come to pass, and a new spring will come all by itself,….but without us, death is a condition we will not make it through.

-30-

          Dedicated to the Memory of my friend Kennie, father, grandfather, and my friend who just “passed” yesterday. God speed my friend.