[mnmouse]

A different kind of healing....

I have an uncle, my mother's only sibling. When I was child, I adored him. He moved out to the East Coast, and we rarely got to see him after that. When I was a teen, he visited several times, and I thought he was the coolest guy I had ever met. He was gifted in the arts, a teacher at a community college, an archeologist who traveled the world and dug up lost cities. And he was my friend.

When I was 17, he came to stay for a few weeks one summer. Having not seen him for several years, it was kind of awkward at first. Then one day we all headed for the mall, and when we got there, he said "You all go do what you want to do, Sharron (that's me) and I are hanging out together this afternoon." We went straight to the music store. We perused the aisles, and I delighted in sharing music of artists with which he was not familiar, he delighted in doing the same with me. We discussed favorites of mine, (including Lightfoot, Taylor, Baez, Chapin) and favorites of his, and discovered our musical tastes overlapped...he purchased two albums of Keith Jarrett. We went for coffee and pie and opened up to eachother, and I shared a lot with him I hadn't shared with too many, if any, others. We went home that evening and listened to each other's music.

Fast forward several years. I am married and living in a small town, and another summer is upon us. Another long anticipated visit has arrived, and I welcome him. He came with my parents for dinner, and after dinner we never actually left the table. I cleared the dishes, we sat and talked. My parents drifted home, my husband went to bed. We broke out a bottle of E&J and I put on Gord's Gold and we opened up again. He told me of memories from when I was very small, watching me grow around his three boys and marveling in the wonders of how uniquely feminine, yet strong and self-assured a girl can be from the get-go. We talked about families and relationships. Maybe it was the combined magic of the music and the E&J and the lateness of the hour, but he returned the years-ago favor by sharing a lot with me that he hadn't shared with too many, if any others. We talked about Gordon's music...the lyrics led to rich conversation. My husband got up to go to work the next morning, and we were still sitting at the table, talking. It was magic.

I saw him again two summers ago, and he looked so old and worn. We did not talk as long...he was tired. He got to know my daughter, and reveled in how much she looked like me, and how uniquely feminine, yet strong and self-assured she was. Last summer, I received word that he was gone. It hit me hard, but I broke out Gordon Lightfoot and Keith Jarrett and there was a healing in the music. Not a physical healing, but a healing of the heart.

Thanks, Rez, for starting this thread and allowing me to share.

mnmouse