A shift

This past Wednesday my friends mother passed away.  She was 96.  She lived many years raising a family of 6 kids and spent the last few years with Alzheimer's.  I found out about it via facebook while at an event I was working near Boston.  During the ride home late that night and into the days following many thoughts drifted in and out of my mind.  Similar to when you find out friends are getting a divorce....it makes you question your paradigm.  Your framework.  Your life.

Most of my thoughts and realizations about her loss made me think about my parents and that time when they too shall pass.  It made me reflective.  Made me look at all the amazing things they have done for and with their children and how I would handle that day.   THAT day when they are no longer a phone call away, a mere drive away, a mere flight away.

The word that kept coming into my consciousness was SHIFT. 

A shift of Thought.

A shift of Family.

A shift of Caring.

A shift of Giving.

A shift of Loving.

So the loss is for those who remain on earth....or should I say the Shift is for those of us who remain. It is us who carry on the legacy, to write about it, to share it, to embody the things we learned from those who touch our lives.  Shifting our energies from the thoughts of loss to the thoughts of how we intend to live our days here on earth.  To embrace the beauty that is all around us (if we look), to touch the lives of those who enter our sphere (if we are open), to go within and shift our wants and desires to reflect the soul we have within.  

May we always be this way - even outside of death.  We have a short time to be effective human being here on earth...soften your heart, open your soul and touch upon the spirit we all have within.  

Made this for my friend Sue.
A Cairn marking the milestone of her mothers life,
the Alzheimer Flower Pin she gave me in support of her mother
and the 2 shells representing her life and her daughter Kate's.