Category: Thoughts for this day

Hyde Park

I recently had an appointment with a client in Hyde Park. This is a neighborhood surrounding the University of Ilinois Hospital and known for its divisity.
My parents were born in this neighborhood over 75 years ago. They met and dated at the local social club.
Growing up my siblings and I were treated to many stories of their youthful adventures . I just had to imagine the two people I knew as Mom and Dad jumping off the rocks to swim, attending the social clubs and “hanging out” in the neighborhood
It wasnt until this last trip to this neighborhood that I realized that I TOO was born in Hyde Park. Gosh why did it take me do long to include myself in that rowdy bunch.

I was a little overcome with emotion  while driving around the neighborhood. Trying to locate from memory where things were. I did get to see St Thomas the Apostle church and school where my Dad made his first communion, Ray grammer school where I attended kindergarten and I really enjoyed the blocks and blocks of tall apartment buildings. I could close my eyes and remember the summer sounds while our windows were open to get some freedom from the heat. I relived the smell of the carpeted hallways and all the different smells slipping under each apartment door reminding me that other cultures share similar spaces.

I could not remember our address exactly and of course many buildings were replaced with more modern buildings chain stores or parking lots .

i just felt closer to my parents than I had for a while. If it’s possible I would not be surprised if their ghosts are haunting their old familiar places!
My Mom had such fond memories of Hyde Park and talked of them right up until her last days.

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Nothing you can say can tear me away from MY blog, my blog, Nothing you can do cuz Im stuck like glue to My blog. I may not be a movie star but when it come to being happy, I “are?”

Just thinking last night how lucky I am in so many ways. The thought process began as I attended yet another wake of a good acquaintance (friend). These thoughts are in memory of Marcial Palomo, A very good man, Father husband, grandfather, teacher, friend. Safe travels to the next Adventure to another dimension !

What is that happens when one goes to the Doctor for one thing and suddenly is given a diagnosis of 3 months to live. How is it you can be out with your friend, see him, enjoy laughter, a few drinks nothing is different, then after the diagnosis, everything moves fast and no one is the same, particularly the patient.I cannot fathom what happens when you are faced with your own mortality . I only know from a distance what I have witnessed with my won Mom, Dad, and Bother. there is a silence that falls over them as if they are hearing and seeing something we cannot. I think its something that cannot be expressed and so it is one of the great mysteries that I wish I could unravel before it  happens to me.

One month, about 30 days going from his regular life to hospice and then a  memorial service. We waited in a line a few blocks long and even as we got closer to the family to share our sympathy the line continued to be very long. A great testament to a man who touched so many lives. Yet if you had met him, saw him, you would not pay particular attention to him. He was a quiet man who enjoyed a simple God-given world. His wife, his family, fishing, Grandbabies and long friendships.

I shared, joked that I didn’t even know that many people. all the Picture boards of a full life. Hmm I told my husband our kids would have difficulty when we passed because no one prints or saves pictures anymore. Everything is on the cloud, the iPhone or tablet . 

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I am not one of those people who tells a surviving spouse or family member  “He’s in a better place” in fact I dislike that saying. I remember people saying that when my Mom died, when my Dad died, in fact someone is always saying that bullshit. oops, I can’t help myself. but seriously, what could be better than being here in your own surroundings with your family , on earth. I have religion, I understand we were not born to live forever, but a better place.  A different place, I can understand but a better place, I don’t think so.