Skip to main content

The flickering light of a Legend

  It's not like I woke up one day and decided to be a magical half of the "Dynamic Duo." It isn't like my grandmother picked me out of the grand kid line-up and said, "Yup, you'll do. I think you can be my partner." It wasn't like that. It just happened. And even though there is a cape with a large DD in hot glue and plastic beads hanging in her bedroom, she wasn't a superhero. Gram was Gram. She wasn't flawless, and sometimes her flaws were quite blatant. But she was mine.
  So what do you say about someone you have spent your whole life loving? What do you say about someone who was truly a constant. So much, that blinking made her appear. The last few days, I have been trying to think of what exactly my grandmother meant to me and tie that up in a sweet little package. Screw that. There is no little sweet package in which you can shove a legend. She was too big and too important. She had changed the world.
  In a few days, people will gather and remember her as they do. She was adamant about a "celebration" of her life and not a funeral. But we don't gather together to talk about someone when they die to make the dead proud; we do it for ourselves. It's our remembrance. It's a moment when we can talk about the change Gram, the legend, created, executed, and embraced in us. Huh, I suppose maybe she was right. That does sound pretty celebratory.
  Her radiant light shined for so long, she became tired. Her body was tired. Her Maker missed her. Her light began to flicker. We clung to her. We demanded her attention. Her Lover wanted to romance her. We wished to impede on His demand. Her light went out. We weep. She, the legend, intertwines finally with her Father. We breathe the finality of the legend. We carry the torch of the legend.
  Gram,
     You gave your everything. You're the better half of the greatest duo this world had ever known. I'm gonna hang up my cape now, as you have hung up yours. One day we will fly again...unimpeded and unquestioned. I love you. I love you. I love you.
        - your Aloe (remaining 1/2 of the DD)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Beneath the Weeping Willow

  "The willow submits to the wind and prospers until one day it is many willows—a wall against the wind. This is the willow's purpose." —  Frank Herbert, Dune   Time, although a very evasive concept, is in each moment a gift. And most often, I don't stop to look back at the road I have traveled on. Even more so, the road Justin and I have travelled together. But today it is warranted. Today marks 9 years as husband and wife, and 9 years of truly some amazing and adverse moments. We have lost the most cherished and birthed the most loved all the while interwoven with each other.    I will be the first to admit that our day to day appears to some: mundane. However, inside the ordinary he and I together have understood the profundity of love. It is brash and loud, but it is also cautious and quiet.  "Love is a many splendored thing."  It is the true basis of community, and I am proud of the community we have built.   The  willow  is the t...

Being his girlfriend

"Are you happy being my girlfriend?" He asks. In all seriousness. In all honesty. He asks. Never once have I been asked such a damned difficult question. Never once have I been asked that slight simple question. Never once have I been asked THAT question.   Immediately, my head goes a thousand different directions. I want to give him the most honest answer. But lately I feel as though I am trying to quantity my happiness. Yes. I. Am. Happy. But what is happiness? Am I? Can I honestly say that I am happy? I don't know.   Before I make an ass out of myself, I must say this: not one time in the history of Aly and men has she ever felt like her significant other was shelter. You know that line from Finding Nemo where Dory says to Marlin, "When I look at you, I remember. When I look at you, I am home." That's the way I feel when I am in his arms. Home. Perhaps it best not to tell him such a bold thought, but it's true.   Back to this question. Am I happy b...

Seconds

  I always tried, growing up, to see if I felt different in certain moments of time. Such as when the clock strikes midnight on my birthday or when it strikes midnight bringing in a new year. Does that one second really feel different? No. Not usually. And that one second isn't truly that significant. But seconds can be significant. In fact, in one second our lives can be completely different.   For the last few months, 6 perhaps, there has been more overwhelming hatred for 2016. It has proven to be a very hard year. I have seen the death of my grandmother, the death of others dear to my friends, rape and murder scattered throughout this world like salt on a wound, natural disasters leaving thousands dead, and the tipping point of a nation that can't seem to get it right.   And as I wax nostalgic, I cringe at the bad, shake my head at the dumbfounded, but then remind myself to embrace and celebrate the good. Because in the midst of all the not good...there is good. The...