My parents died in the mid-1980’s. It became time for us eight children to clear out the house. We used a lottery system to ease the hardships of some decisions. On one of my turns I chose the paperback book “The Pocket Book of Ogden Nash”. In case you are not familiar with him, he is a great humorist who plays with words. Here are a few samples. Best if you read out loud so you can get the rhythm and tempo and experience the full joy of his work
EELS
I don’t mind eels
Except as meals
EDOUARD
A bugler named Dougal MacDougal
Found ingenious ways to be frugle.
He learned how to sneeze
In various keys,
Thus saving the price of a bugle.
I am not promoting the book. I just wanted you to develop a sense of the mood we were in. Publishing dates were from 1931 to 1958. The poetry is meant to give the tone of a visit with my sister who is about six years younger. We started the clearing out process with “I remember” statements retrieving many adventures from days gone by. There were events that only one or the other of us could recall with ease, or we had our own version. Time can mess with reality.
Questions surfaced about our parents’ histories for which we had no answer because neither of us had ever enquired. My hope is to find out the answers to those questions. It would be great to be able to ask. We listed so many things; we had quite a few sadnesses as we cleaned out.
The truth may never
Unfold,
Goneand never be discovered.
This is All Saints week. It may be the time for pulling it all together, all the memories together with the answers we do have.
