Denizen of the cemetery!

    Tom is at it again and, as he sent me the quote below, he said "Let me guess, it will show up on your blog."  Right you are, Tom, because you send such good material. Thanks!

from City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert: 

"This is what I've found about life, as I've gotten older: you start to lose people.... It's not that there is ever a shortage of people - oh, heavens, no.  It is merely that - as the years pass - there comes to be a terrible shortage of your people.  The ones you loved.  The ones who knew the people that you both loved.  The ones who know your whole history."  

    Right on, Elizabeth!  " there comes to be a terrible shortage of your people.  The ones you loved.  The ones who knew the people that you both loved.  The ones who know your whole history."  

     Readers of this blog may recall how I've reflected on the grief of lost history in bereavement. With Mary Hatlestad's death as an example; I'm not aware of any others who were on the staff at First Lutheran, Sioux Falls, simultaneous with us. So now there is no one with whom I can reminisce about those days and who can respond to my memories in a knowledgeable way.  

     Every time I come to The Little House I visit Joanne's grave. Often I do not stop there but wander among the graves remembering many others whom I knew, I a denizen of the cemetery.  Admittedly my high school graduating class was tiny, eight of us, but half have died. One of my classmates, now dead, shared 12 years of school with me.

     One of my first Christmas cards, with a picture, was from Tillie, age 106. She was making snow angels when she was 100! Think of all loved ones she's lost? Fortunately her two children survive.  "...there comes to be a terrible shortage of your people."  Yes there does, so let us cherish with new appreciation those who are still with us.

Takk for alt,

Al