Friday, July 1, 2011

"The only way out is through"

As I was sifting through old boxes, playing a game of keep or toss, I came across a stack of calendar scraps saved from years ago. A little 2005 square Mary Engelbreit desktop calendar, drawings with accompanying quotes to be torn off as the days go by. I don't know if I believe in coincidence anymore. Irony and deeply layered meanings, yes, I see it everywhere. Even in the form of a quote which surfaces the moment inspiration and soothing words are needed. Distracted from sorting, I absorb the pages, reading between the lines, dissecting text as if it were freshman literature. In the absence of an ocean, some words roll off the tongue and wash over us providing a similar comfort, renewal, and empowerment to take another step forward.

"Be not the slave of your own past ~ plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so you shall come back with self-respect, with new power, with an advanced experience, that shall explain and overlook the old." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"To see a world in a grain of sand & heaven in a wildflower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand & eternity in an hour." William Blake

"The only way out is through." Robert Frost

I wonder if there really is another end of grief, a way out, a way through. It's hard to imagine my days without grief, but then again it was impossible to imagine life without Cooper. Why is it so hard to let go. I don't think letting go of grief is synonymous with letting go of memories, but I'm having a hard time picturing it. I can't quite wrap my head around it.