In Loving Memory of Jean

Be like the bird
who halting in her flight
on limb too slight
feels it give way beneath her
and yet sings
knowing she hath wings
– Victor Hugo

The quote first came in to my life when I was five or six. It was in a big glossy book, with pretty pictures of statues. I think initially I loved the simple rhyme, the idea of this little bird trying to land, and then singing. I imagined a tiny brown finch, in the dead of winter, trying to land on a little branch that would not hold her. Dusty flecks of snow and ice sparkle in the cold sun as she flutters up, spreading her little wings, flapping and flying, and finding her way.

Today my brother in law is giving the eulogy for his mother, Jean. She is gone, unexpectedly, gone. There is a family trying to cling to what they know, to those memories of a beautiful, funny, woman who was so full of life. Who had a house full of rescued animals, a woman who sent amusing and thoughtful gifts to her grandchildren. Who loved unapologetically.

It is my prayer that in the next life she is dancing, she is smiling on her family. That she is restored and renewed, and made whole again. That she is embraced by the Eternal, that she knows she is loved beyond measure. And that she sings, knowing she hath wings.

Sharing Jean’s memory at:
Hear it on Sunday, Use it on Monday
 Playdates at the Wellspring