Sometimes a little bit of nature helps
June 16th, 2008 by Carol WoodliffThis will be a quick post because I’m writing from the airport in Chicago, waiting for my flight back to LA which if I’m lucky will begin boarding in about 15 minutes. As I mentioned I was in Illinois to see my mother who will turn 86 in July. It is always an emotional trip as I am aware of the losses my mom has had in her abilities each time I see her. Saturday was an especially hard day as her Parkinson’s was especially bad that day and she was “stuck”. Her body wouldn’t cooperate with her and kept freezing. She’d want to move her legs or arms and couldn’t. It is obviously very hard to face this in anyone much less a parent who you spent a good portion of your life thinking she was all powerful.
As I left for lunch on Saturday the first thing I thought of was–I want pizza. My home town has lots of pizza places and I could have done that. But instead I thought about what I really needed and since it was one of the rare days where it wasn’t raining. I decided to grab something healthier for lunch and head for a park so I could feel the breeze and sit in some green space.
So here is my self portrait in the park
It was interesting. There was no one in the park until I was getting ready to leave. It was as though the universe was giving me the peace and quiet I needed to calm and center myself so I could go back to my mom’s assisted living home and be there for her without my grief about her illness. I want to cherish each moment we have because I know there will not be many more. Sometimes all we need is a little space in somewhere beautiful to help us release stress and do the harder stuff we need to do. It certainly worked for me.
Gotta sign off. Almost time for boarding!
Hugs
C
