Dear Dorothy Ready for Freedom

Thursday, March 25th, 2004

Words for Today
"Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies."
'Tis a gloriously sunny morning with just the weest bit of fog and haze this morning in Grand Forks on the Minnesota border up in northern beauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuutiful Dakota. Temperatures soared to seventy above in Bismarck as my lovin' spouse drove us here to hear the great North Dakota writer Louise Erdrich last night at the 35th Annual Writers' Conference last night - we here for the spring meeting of the great folks I work for, the North Dakota Humanities Council. 'Twas a busy morning yesterday, and I was bereft of my connection to the Internet at home - the Monet folks who offered wireless Internet in Bismarck, Grand Forks, Fargo, Sioux Falls, SD, and Eau Claire, WI went broke - how dare they! So I was not able to write in my journal yesterday - or didn't find the time. Then, early this morning, I found that the server in my office had been attacked by unknown invaders - so it automatically shuts down service.

As I write this morning on Thursday, March 25, 2004, one of my dearest friends, my lovin' spouse's mother Dorothy Kubik, lies dying in earnest in a Dickinson nursing home - she has lived with only a hook-up to oxygen since last Saturday - and dear sister-in-law Janet says that she is comfortable enough - she doesn't seem to suffering. Would that we could be there - even though Dorothy hasn't been with us for a good long while - she's been in the last states of Alzheimer's, and 'tis now at the point where she does not swallow food and will forget breath.

Her day of peace - should it come today or tomorrow -- is, in many ways, a day of happiness, a day of release from imprisonment within herself - and I imagine that all those loved ones who went before well may be helping her right now as she begins the final hours of her passage here in the middle world - including her beloved Alfons, for whom she cared for during his own long years with Alzheimer's. Our words for today belong to Erich Fromm, born in 1900 a couple of days ago, on March 23 - he lived on to 1980. Dorothy lived, breathed, and enjoyed each day for its simple joys each day of her eighty-four years , even those she spent not remembering exactly who she was - she embraced life and its smallest gifts with a sheer joy and an unselfish urge to share whatever she had. In fact, I'll always remember Dorothy as the most giving, unselfish person I've ever met. She raised six children - clothing her three girls from her sewing machine - canning, freezing, and cooking up a storm. Her pride in the accomplishments of her children and grandchildren was immense - and always offered with wonderment that all turned out so well.

'Twill be two years past this April that her youngest son, brother Joe, left us at such a tender age - I don't think that she ever knew he left this middle world - his indomitable spirit awaits hers - what a marvelous surprise! So, although my heart is heavy - for I love Dorothy deeply, as I do her children, especially my loving spouse, 'twill also be lightened knowing that she will be free at last.

'Tis a good day to enjoy the fresh air, my kola - 'tis spring - and 'tis time to embrace life even as we recognize our mortality. Do take care of yourselves - and look out for each other, dear kola - as Dorothy Goth Kubik did just as long as she was able.