In The Quiet Darkness, The Jingling of Sleigh Bells
In an irrational world, sometimes it is hard to hold fast to what matters to your heart.
Faith, hope, love. Respect of boundaries.
A promise made. A promise kept.
Doing what you say. Making it right if an error is made.
Choosing to light the darkness to another person alone or struggling. To give and receive.
Feeding them (children, livestock, pets) before yourself.
A handshake. Showing up on time.
A smile risked. A chance taken.
Taking a walk to find the calm in nature. (It's good medicine.)
Watching a potter shape wet clay. Young minds are shaped by all they observe.
Here's to my mom, who loved Christmas and made it magic.
A tradition in the past few decades for her adult offspring and families was to gather at her home each December 24. After dark, someone would stop amid the clamor of so many people jammed into two rooms talking, eating, exchanging gifts – and swear they could hear the jingle of sleigh bells. All would go quiet. Sure enough, there was a faint jingling was heard passing by.
“Time to go, Santa won't stop if the lights are on,” was the tried-and-true comment to the youngest of the children whose eyes would go round with anticipation. The adults would glance at each other knowingly – and there was one offbeat soul designated as the runner out in the night with the bells in hand, entrusted to keep the secret. Stashed in an old milk box, there the bells stayed until the next day when all were returned to a top shelf indoors.
What was the point, did the “magic” work? Didn't matter, because Mom loved it.
A child is natural wonder and takes an investment of a lot of hard and worthy work.
And she loved us. As I chattered nervously in a hospital room when her days dwindled to a precious few and the approaching reality was so hard to face, and yet also a gift. Of time together and a journey. So, a question.
“Am I bugging you Mom with all this blabbing? I don't know what to do. You need rest. Should I visit more or less?”
She whispered back, “Visit more.”
Yes, of course.
She never gave up on her belief in love, people, spending time together. Blending joy and grief.
“You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are.” ― Fred Rogers
She left this life in April 2013. Her legacy continues.
Now preserved as stories recorded, including several about Ben Kennard and his horses, riding stables in Meriden, Connecticut. Woven into writing, rich resources captured to ship them on to the future.
“Each room holds so many memories that its contents are measurable not just in three dimensions but in a fourth – time.” – George Howe Colt, The Big House
Why do we stop believing in ourselves? Why do we let facts and figures and anything but dreams rule our lives?”
― Cecelia Ahern
Note: This story originally appeared Dec. 24. 2013. Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. May the spirit of the season find you and yours.
Video “Sleigh Bells” by Robin Wheeler Dec. 24, 2007. “It's lovely weather for a sleigh together with Bubba.” via YouTube.