Sunrise, Sunset

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Sunrise courtesy of Pixabay

Sunrise, Sunset, Swiftly Go the Years

Recently I attended a funeral Mass for my friend Steve from high school days. Many mutual friends attended, and much of his family, some of whom I knew, and some met that afternoon. We shared so many memories, stories, pictures, music, food, laughter, and some tears. Even a bit of genealogy and family history!

The Sixties and Seventies when we all knew one another seemed so close, and yet eons ago. We've lost some friends along the way too, and their parents; and in that way it all seems like a distant past.

And yet, as I re-introduced myself to so many, we're the same people we were, with more white or less hair, more wrinkles, some crutches and canes. The young ones playing or crying in the aisles of the church showed that life is moving on.

In the words of Barbra Streisand,"memories may be beautiful and yet, what's too painful to remember we simply choose to forget. So it's the laughter we will remember, whenever we remember, the way we were." However, some of the best conversations I had that day were about some of the painful memories. I hope that each of us gathers the courage to face both the pain and the pleasure of the past, and tell those stories. Write or record them, and share as appropriate. Maybe right here in our blog!

In the weeks since I wrote the above, not only have I dreamed of many incidents from the past, but also come to understand the lives of my ancestors in a way impossible to me before all those memories resurfaced. Grief, joy, confusion, memory are human experiences we share with our ancestors and relatives. They too saw the beauty of a sunrise, the wonder of a full moon shining in the night, and dreams of their own past. As we find their records, it's good to let some of these thoughts and emotions sink in. We are, because they lived.


Sunset photo by zheng liang on pexels

* Blog title from 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof


Valorie Zimmerman

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Send your stories to m.strickland@skcgs.org






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