Every year without knowing it / I have passed the day / When the last fires will wave to me / And the silence will set out / Tireless traveler / Like the beam of a lightless star
Thank you for sharing this with us, Michael. I wish I could have known Valerie.
When my parents and sister come up in conversation, I encounter a similar tension. "You have a sister? Where does she live?" someone might ask. I often say "Oh, she's no longer living," or "she died several years ago," and I feel like I've just placed a heavy weight on the conversation, something I need to alleviate by smiling, in order to reassure my conversational partner. I'm attempting to speak about a reality I'm now familiar with, but it feels like I'm delivering bad news every time it comes up.
Thank you for sharing this with us, Michael. I wish I could have known Valerie.
When my parents and sister come up in conversation, I encounter a similar tension. "You have a sister? Where does she live?" someone might ask. I often say "Oh, she's no longer living," or "she died several years ago," and I feel like I've just placed a heavy weight on the conversation, something I need to alleviate by smiling, in order to reassure my conversational partner. I'm attempting to speak about a reality I'm now familiar with, but it feels like I'm delivering bad news every time it comes up.
Which, in a way, we are.