‘Love is a lot like a backache, it doesn't show up on X-rays, but you know it’s there.’- George Burns

Faith and love... you know, the small stuff! ‘Can miles truly separate you from friends...? If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there?’ – Richard Bach I haven’t been posting lately, my mind being somewhat disorganized. I want to start by thanking my dear friends who have, through comments, e-mails, messages in chat and their blogs, sent my family and I much needed love, support, good thoughts and prayers. ‘He who has faith has... an inward reservoir of courage, hope, confidence, calmness, and assuring trust that all will come out well - even though to the world it may appear to come out most badly.’ - B. C. Forbes This weekend I took my father (who gets motion sickness when someone rocks in a rocking chair in the same room as he is – yes, it’s THAT bad) to see Mom at the hospital. Got him in the car, and drove the approximately 30 minutes it takes to drive into the city and navigate the side streets of downtown Montreal. He didn’t complain - and usually he uses the ‘passenger side invisible break’ at least 3 times in a drive of that length. Once we got to the hospital he walked what seemed like 100 feet to get in the building (the door which leads to an elevator just a mere 10 feet from where we parked the car is closed on Sundays... of course!) Okay, so it wasn’t 100 feet, but it sure felt like was, Dad walks slowly, he’s 86… remember watching George Burns walk in the final years? Once in the building I sat him in a wheelchair (why didn’t I think of it before the long walk… sheesh!) and took him to the ER (yes… she’s still in the ER as they don’t have a single free bed in the Oncology ward or the free world for that matter!) to see Mom. What came next was, well, it was magic. My mother knew that my father was coming and had asked my aunt (her sister who had come in from out of town to visit) to brush her hair. The most wonderful smile came over her when she saw Dad. In her eyes, I saw a young girl, giddy from her first crush. I pushed the wheelchair up to the bed and stood back as my mother took my father’s hands in hers - as I’ve mentioned in a previous post, my father is legally blind – he can no longer see the details of a person’s face, much less if her hair is properly coiffed. But my mother’s face is etched in his heart. She brought her head close to his and they kissed, and I watched them with some guilt. I felt like I was intruding in the most intimate of moments, as they talked to each other with their heads close, their foreheads touching. And I let them be alone together because I don’t know when or if my parents will see each other again in this lifetime. ‘In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.’ - Paul McCartney In the meantime, I hugged my aunt, and told her I love her. I thought she was going to cry in my arms, but the women in my family have been through a great deal and we know, there is always someone who needs us and we draw strength from each other. I know that as my aunt looked at my mother she was reminded of my grandmother’s cancer, the gauntness of her face, the frailness of her body. But my mother and her sisters are the strongest women I’ve ever met, and it’s a trait that I intend to carry on and so will my daughter. My aunt and I chatted about her husband, who has lost a leg to diabetes and is relying on her more and more, becoming less and less sure of himself … and about everyone else in the family who is going through a rough patch. And I know that when the end does come, I’ll be holding many of them together, as my mother did before me. I am not the eldest, as is my mother, but I have inherited her resolve and her role in the family. I could see that although he was happier than... no... that’s not the word… serene, I think it describes it better.. more serene than he’d been in a long time, Dad was tired. So I told him we’d go home and he could have a nice cup of tea and rest. He kissed my mother, and told her he loves her with such tenderness that even a non-softie like me can’t help but be touched by it. She beamed, and I forgot, for a moment, that she was ill. My father was the best painkiller she could be given. They had talked everyday since she was in the extended care facility and those little chats had made them feel closer, giving them strength. Much like chatting with my wonderful extended family that I love so much, my Soul Patrol brothers and sisters, has lifted me when I need support. But since she's been admitted to the hospital last Thursday, it was the first chance they had to speak.. to reconnect.. ‘Today I begin to understand what love must be, if it exists.... When we are parted, we each feel the lack of the other half of ourselves. We are incomplete like a book in two volumes of which the first has been lost. That is what I imagine love to be: incompleteness in absence.’ – Goncourt Seeing my parents together again gave me renewed faith and hope for the world… In that brief time… I saw Magic… ‘I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.’ - Shelby Eatenton Latcherie (Steel Magnolias) In the spirit of true love and great couples… "One day, the audience realized I had a terrific talent. They were right. I did have a terrific talent. And I was married to her for 38 years." - George Burns, about Gracie Allen. To get a sense of how well Burns and Allen worked together: visit the Old Time Radio Show catalog website and click on the ‘Sweeping into Office MP3’ ... if you don’t laugh, you must be dead! Allen Family Circus GEORGE Well, Gracie, any news from home? GRACIE Yes. I got a letter from my little niece, Jean. GEORGE What did she say? GRACIE She didn't say anything. She didn't phone. It was a letter, and she wrote it. GEORGE I mean what did she write? GRACIE It's Spring again, and my family is putting on a backyard circus, just like we did when I was a kid. GEORGE Every Spring you kids used to put on your own circus? GRACIE Yes. Of course, admission was free, but that was only for the people who could afford it. GEORGE Well, that's because we're living in a democracy. GRACIE Oh yes, isn't it nice.... Anyway, my Cousin Barney was the sword swallower, and what a performance he put on. The kids would cheer when he put a sword four feet long down his throat. GEORGE Could Barney really swallow a sword? GRACIE Oh, George, don't be silly, it was a trick. You know the scabbard that the sword fits into? GEORGE Yeah. GRACIE Well, before the show he would stick that down his throat. GEORGE I see. GRACIE Then when he'd slip the sword into it... GEORGE JOINING GRACIE ...everybody thought he was swallowing it. GRACIE Yeah. GEORGE It's a shame to fool the public like that. GRACIE But the admission was free. GEORGE Oh, I forgot. GRACIE And Uncle Otis was the strong man. He'd come out in a leopard skin and put big nails in his mouth and twist them between his teeth until they'd bend. GEORGE That's quite a trick. GRACIE Yes, but he looked pretty ridiculous walking around with all those bent teeth. GEORGE Well, they'd come in handy if he happened to get a crooked ear of corn. GRACIE Oh, you live and learn.... And Aunt Gertrude was the snake charmer. GEORGE Aunt Gertrude? The one who's so near-sighted? GRACIE Yes. She had a little snake and she was supposed to put it in a basket and then blow on a flute until the snake stuck its head up. And what do you suppose happened one Saturday afternoon? GEORGE She put the flute in the basket and blew on the snake. GRACIE Wasn't that awful! GEORGE That must have upset her. GRACIE Oh, George, it wasn't a real snake. It was just a few worms tied together. GEORGE Well, that's better. Who else was in the side show? GRACIE One of the big hits was Uncle Harvey and Aunt Clara. GEORGE What was there act? GRACIE Half man...half woman. GEORGE But didn't you have two halves left over? GRACIE Oh no, they both got into one costume. GEORGE Now I get the picture. GRACIE George, it wasn't a picture, they did it in person. GEORGE What was your part in the circus? GRACIE I was the lion tamer. GEORGE You were the lion tamer? GRACIE Of course I just used our house cat. For two weeks before the circus I taught her all kinds of tricks...to sit on a pedestal, to roll over, to play dead. GEORGE Sounds like a pretty smart cat. GRACIE Yes, but when she got in front of the audience she forgot all her tricks and just had kittens. GEORGE That must have caused a sensation. GRACIE It was...but what good was it? The silly cat wouldn't do it again for the second performance. GEORGE Say good night, Gracie. GRACIE Good night. ‘Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion.’ – Truvy Jones(Steel Magnolias) I love you all more than my luggage! Hugs, smooches and gropes.