20200422_142255

so.

we've made it so far.   No one is sick.   

Jenny,  who works at the hospital.   No longer comes when Alyssia and the kids are here.    This is a big deal.   You see Emrie's "office"…her fisher price phone and broken plastic adirondack   chair.   We called Jenny,  New Nana,  a few times.  Emrie said she was mad.   I said we would see her soon,  when her WORK said she could come.   There was no way we could find words or thoughts that would work.    So we left it at this.

Things shifted today.   Alyssia was up to doing a big shopping.  What that ended up meaning,  was,   she now is the designated Out Person.   She was 

care Full

about my sense of Agency.

how was it?   if she got Everything for Everyone?   How would i feel about that?   

she's not much for a lot of chitchat ahead of time and here we were.  I needed things.  She was ready.  The question to me was how did i feel about not going myself?,  did i mind that?   was i stir crazy?    

 

I don't ever feel any need to leave this Hill.  none.  but i also am concerned about a sense of burden for her….not only caring for herself and her kids,  but also for what i need…     We talked.   Honest and straightforward.   She is confident in her ability to maneuver in the  world….because of her physical  challenges with the autoimmune,  she has refined her "tools" to the utmost.  She is confident.   I asked her.   Do you trust yourself more than you trust me?   Yes.  

so here we are.  For the Long Haul,  as far as what we know.   I stay Here.   Emrie  and Julian,  when he wants to,  can come here.  They can continue to be Free on this Hill.  It will be a safe zone.  It will be the Other Place from their home where they can be…..6 acres of it.   Goats.  2 Gardens.  Trees.  Sky.   a chicken and a dog and cat.   an old Nana.   The day i spent with Emrie cannot be found in words.   at the end of it,  when she was in her car seat,  leaving,  i said to her…thank you for coming…she said i come here,  oush Nana.   There is nothing.  Nothing that could equal that.

Bless Us All.   This EARTH DAY.   we will go.   however we can.   

 

 

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25 responses to “reconsidering. For the Long Haul”

  1. maria Avatar
    maria

    Yes bless us all ,the little one’s the old one’s thanks planet earth

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  2. Mo Crow Avatar

    such a beautiful Earth Day celebration!

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  3. Michelle Slater Avatar

    Since Earth Day is Every Day, it will all work out.

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  4. Deb G Avatar

    Yes however…good enough.

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  5. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    At one time or another we all take care of each other .. the circle of this beautiful life. Have a great day Grace!!

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  6. sarita Avatar
    sarita

    It’s so hard. Your words made me cry. I miss my son, grand-daughter. What an Eath Day…
    Good to pick a designated Goer and one to stay. Husband goes, I stay.
    Were you able to get TP…I can send you some?

    Like

  7. grace Forrest Avatar

    sarita!!!!!!! how Happy to find you here!…and i just
    read that you found a
    BLACK
    maybe rayon
    garment to work on….
    eeeeeeeeeeeee….i love black, i love rayon
    will very much look forward to hearing about it as it goes,
    she did get toilet paper. Thank you for the offer…
    and Earth day. i have thoughts about that, but i’m
    just taking those thoughts to the Garden for a while
    ….they need to air out there.
    Thanks for coming here. love,

    Like

  8. jaime Avatar
    jaime

    I spent time yesterday looking up the song, “Oush, oush, baby” and trying to find the meaning of the word Oush. Now here in your post Emery is saying it to you. What does Oush mean? And why are we so on the same wavelength?

    Like

  9. Nancy Avatar

    Safe places, such alive spaces are important. This is good.

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  10. Nanette Avatar

    Jaime ….oush, urban slang…. awesome, cool, wicked…..pretty darn good.

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  11. jaime Avatar
    jaime

    Thank you, Nanette.

    Like

  12. Acey Avatar

    Love so much the relationship of Size between child and goat – and then the larger context of Emrie’s size in relation to a very familiar view you share. In most pictures just parts of her are filling the whole image. But far more than that she is SO BIG in your story of daily life and also your evolving sense of/relationship to yourSelf.
    Emrie is “just” a little girlchild but we all know how powerful such be-ings actually are.
    Also – speaking for my own relationship to the invisible autoimmune reality of living as fully as possible – I’ve been talking to a few others and we all believe (zero doubt) that our various triumphs and tribulations were an excellent ongoing test run for a far bigger invisible something that literally threatens humanity’s existence.
    We’ve been there sooooooooooo often at a personally-threatened level. We know what we have to do to foster and maintain wellness and we also know how to do it. That means we’re not fumbling nearly as much as many are whilst under a sense of tremendous duress or stubbornly maintained skepticism. We’re also (by now) virtually free of that far from simple human foible -unwillingness to change habits as well as purely solipsistic prioritization. We already know this duress, how entirely real it is every moment of every day, and how to maintain a maximum amount of productive energy flow within the pressurized restrictions we know by heart, mind, and body.
    Am glad this reality check of ongoing awareness has become a daily part of your life, grace. From my perspective you share more inclusive and wider ranging Ideas About Things as a result. And that burnishes your word tinctures here tremendously. full circle illumination for each and All of Us.
    (Alyssia essentially makes this choice every time she gets out of bed when her body isn’t well. Trust it as much as you already trust her.)

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  13. Hazel Avatar

    There is a steadiness here that is comforting. So glad for Emrie. We’ve loved that phone here, too. Have two of them.

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  14. Liz A from Texas Avatar

    how you have worked this out … for now … the honesty and willingness to be open … the listening and truly hearing … all leading to Emrie being there, which is everything … and Julian of course, fortunately he being older and better able to comprehend the reasoning
    I feel for Jenny, new nana … for all of them, missing each other

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  15. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes, so much….the ALL of it….just so much

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  16. grace Forrest Avatar
  17. grace Forrest Avatar

    well…am no thinking so, but i might

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  18. grace Forrest Avatar

    as good as it can

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  19. grace Forrest Avatar

    if we are lucky, yes.

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  20. grace Forrest Avatar

    i have no idea where it came from for Emrie. Was Old Nana
    all along and then suddenly Oush. I have asked her…to
    be sure she knew she changed it and she knows. Why i asked her and she shruggs her shoulders and smiles.

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  21. grace Forrest Avatar

    oh, eeeee…..this is good

    Like

  22. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. we need to keep it a sanctuary

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  23. grace Forrest Avatar

    ahh, Acey…re the autoimmune
    EXACTLY. EXACTLY her sentiments tho different words, but
    yes. this is it. Thank you so so much for these words.
    I read them to her and her eyes softened and she smiled.

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  24. grace Forrest Avatar

    it’s what i can give

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  25. grace Forrest Avatar

    it is very hard for Jenny

    Like

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