9/11 hit quite differently for me this year. I always remember, but rarely do those memories keep me in bed all morning. Other than some gentle pup snuggles, silence was around me and in me as I entered into the day of remembrance.
Without much thought or consideration to the date, I was scheduled to host a silent reading party on this 9/11. A week or so before the silent reading party I was invited to read the book “The Beauty of What Remains” for a family book club with my mom and aunts. This was my choice for the silent reading party. How fitting it turned out to be to continue my day in silent connection and reflection with my guests.
“The Beauty of What Remains”, a book about how our greatest fear becomes our greatest gift, in only the first few chapters, helped me process what I had been wading through in my silence all that day. The author points out that “making peace with death is really about making peace with life.”
Even in my silent reading I was taken back to 9/11, “Sister Anne is with us. She flew in from San Diego last night. This is news, because she has not flown since 9/11; the flight went smoothly, and we have been catching up on all manner of things.”
She had made peace with life. To catch up. To laugh. It doesn’t mean forgetting. It means choosing to survive. To heal. And to live. It means finding the beauty in what remains.
“Most people die exactly the same way they live. This is sometimes terrible and sometimes beautiful, but it is almost always true.”
When thinking about how I want to die I must think about how I want to live and ask myself if I’m doing it. I want to live with intention and love. I want to live in connection and reflection. In creating the life I want it is also important to consider the Sabbath.
“Create your own kind of Sabbath in your heart and your life. Spend a seventh of your life gathered around the candlelit table, then snuggle beneath the covers. Stroll, listen, think, breathe, and relish your most sacred, finite, and beautiful blessing- time.”
The link below is the author of “The Beauty of What Remains” explaining the sentiment “May their memory be a blessing”.
Here’s to finding the beauty of what remains.
No comments:
Post a Comment