Flying
Fish
These days, I feel like I'm being interviewed by Barbara Walters (the
TV reporter who is known to make her guests cry). People know I am in
mourning for my Mom so when they approach me they give me their sympathetic
face and wait for me to cry. Bless their sensitive hearts but there are
days when I'm actually in my regular happy mood and I don't feel like
crying.
And there's the Emotion Police who want to cheer me up but make sure I
am not too happy lest others think I did not care for Mom; So like the
flying fish, I have to straddle between water and sky ... between joy
and sorrow.
( Tom
of Pasadena sent me this video about the
plight of the flying fish, Swim and you get eaten by the big fish.
Fly and you get eaten by the birds.)
Even when I want to have a happy day, there are late-breaking incidents
that force me back into that troubled world. This morning I started my
day with 2 terrible news. A close friend who sang with me back in my college
years was diagnosed with cancer and the disease had masticated in her
bones. Another friend from my TGIF family shared that his wife will be
on IV for 3-6 months due to Lyme disease. Later in the afternoon, another
college batchmate had passed away. It's wave after wave of bad news.
When
you are in mourning you are trapped in this emotional vortex and you cry
like a baby until there are no longer any tears to shed. The formula to
return to normal is to think of the fun times and immerse yourself into
the routines of life. Slowly, hopefully, that storm will dissipate.
When
death and life collide, emotions burst like fireworks in the night sky.
It's a beautiful thing really. Who would have thought that thinking about
death would make me so alive?
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Wisdom
from Naomi of N Hollywood, CA 
The best part about being over 40 is we did most of our stupid
stuff before the internet!
Thanks
to this week's winners:
Norm of Arcadia; Reynaldo and Leovino of Manila; Don of Kelowna;
Tinette of Los Angeles; Tom of Pasadena; and Naomi of N Hollywood.
"Nothing is a matter of life and death except life and
death." --- Angela Carter
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