STUFFINGS OF THE SOUL

There are times when pictures far exceed any captions that could be created

There are times when pictures are not worth a thousand words.          .          .
THEY ARE LIBRARIES
and they flip through the pages of our Souls
so gently and yet so powerfully
that they can never be spoke or heard, only
E X P E R I E N C E D
in inexplicable ways
that burrow through our Tapestries
in a way that can never unbind us

.          .          .those are some of the thoughts and feelings I experienced when my friend, Beth shared these photographs a couple of weeks ago on Facebook along with these words:

Words are inadequate to express the complexity in my heart on this first anniversary of dad’s death. There is warmth and fullness in my chest as I look at these photos which are two of my favorite of us. And there is sadness, heaviness and oddly relief when I realize that I am glad you did not live to see the horror occurring in Israel right now. There is amusement as I hear people fear Friday the 13th while knowing both you and mom were born on Friday the 13ths and married on a Friday the 13th making this day/date special and filled with love for me. It is still surreal to me that you are gone, and I miss you and mom everyday. It is hard to not have my ultimate protectors when the world feels so unkind. Miss you Poptart 😢

We all have bags, bins, drawers, albums and ohhhhh my, our cell phones are filled with videos and photos, aren’t they?  Seriously, which one of any of them need opening?  Just same the name of a loved one.  Say it out loud, right now.  See!  They’re right there, closer than a thought, a cherished memory, a fragrant smell, a gentle touch, a sip a taste of a favorite food or drink.       .        .
RIGHT THERE
NOW
OR ANY TIME
WE CHOOSE
and yes, 
SOMETIMES EVEN WITHOUT INVITATION OR PLAN
RIGHT THERE.      .     .
always near
never far
and just as real
as the first time
we ever experienced it

Beth helped me understand that when she posted these two of many photos a couple of weeks ago and what it did for her then and now, invites the same thing for us now, too:
RE-MEMBER
go ahead. . .put back the pieces of those lives who are still very much apart of us; rearrange them, hold them dear, bring them to your lips, no one will object or think it strange, because before you ever do any of those one things you’ll already intimately know they have magnificently been done deeply done in you and.     .    .and will forever continue.

It’s great, isn’t it, when words and pictures
B E C O M E
never to be anything else
more or less than
O U R S.      .      .
STUFFINGS  OF  THE  SOUL