There is just too much sadness in this world.
Globally, I can’t believe what is happening. The song refrain “In My Own Lifetime” keeps going through my head. In my own lifetime, I never thought I would see such destruction and such heartless acts of savagery. Beheadings? I never thought I would see such prejudice and hatred.(the beating and intimidation of Jews walking to synagogue in Europe). I naively thought that we had progressed as human beings, but I see that I was wrong.
On a personal basis, I am losing too many friends. I just received this email:
I have felt sad this weekend about the loss of our very special friend, Diane.
It made me think about the people who lived in the house with Diane and our happy times at UW, living and laughing together, studying together, creating and performing homecoming skits together, attending parties together, and generally being carefree with great adventures awaiting in our futures. Also about the amazing contributions to our families and communities that we all have made over the last 40 plus years. It is my understanding that Diane also was a dynamic leader in her Chicago community and has many devoted friends and family members, as do all of you.
So I just wanted to send a big hug to each of you in memory of Diane.
My friend, Lesley, who wrote this, really captured those times for us. I also remember our group who weekly had Sunday night dinner together. We made a vow that we would meet again in ten years to eat Chinese food and laugh and plan. We never did. Now, pancreatic cancer has taken Diane, and we’ll never have the chance.
I was just talking about Diane last week, which made me wonder how she was, although I didn’t act on it. It was in July. 1987. My husband and I were walking down the Rue de Rivoli with our kids after dinner. Moe and Jen were lagging behind so I turned around to see where they were. Diane was right behind me. I hadn’t seen her for over twenty years but she looked the same. If I hadn’t turned around, we would have walked down the same street without ever knowing.
Which is sort of a metaphor for life, isn’t it. I hope I can become more conscious, more aware. We can’t wait to say, “hello,again”. Babyboomers, we need to start now.
A Corner of My Mind 