This has been quite an amazing year for me. My father passed away on November 24, 2012 and my daughter was born on October 15, 2013. When Dad passed two days after Thanksgiving last year, I could have never guessed that less than a year later I would hold a new baby in my arms. What a blessing she has been, and both the pregnancy and her birth has helped me ease through the past year and the anniversary of his death.
This morning, I came across this phenomenal performance by the Hungarian Dance troupe, Attraction, that mirrored my own experience, and I had to share it. (The group was the winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2013).
It is so amazing to me that their beautiful and emotional performance is one that can reach across language and culture and can help comfort me, even as I relive and process this year of life events.
Just this weekend, I spoke with a friend who is dealing with her mother’s cancer. She basically said, “How can I be a mom if I lose my mom, my source of comfort and knowledge?” I felt the same about my Dad, my human search engine, cheerleader, and source of all knowledge and help. Others have come and with their talents and love have helped to fill in the gaps. It will never be the same, but now I know that I need to make my children my friends and my support in the way that Dad was to me. I may not have him, but I will have them, and I can be (in part) to them, what he was to me.
When Dad passed, I was shocked when we showed up at the viewing and found that there were flowers all over the social hall, which had been sent, mostly, by others who had tragically lost someone early. I found comfort in friends who also had lost their parents too early. Now I know how to comfort those who have lost. Maybe that is the reason that we have shared human experiences, so that we can understand each other. So that we can know that we are not alone. And, so that we can help each other deal with both the difficult moments that life brings and the joyful ones.
Tamarack Idea Factory 