Carol Craig 9/1932 - 10/5/1960
Dudley Craig 10/11/1959 - 10/5/1960
Vero Beach, Florida May 1960
This glorious October afternoon I drove out of Church Town, headed for Cleveland, and got stopped behind a big yellow school bus on a country road. A little boy hopped out and started down his lane, in between two soy bean fields, and for a moment I was taken back to this same day in 1960.
Of course I don't remember this exact day. But I know that I got off a big yellow bus and stood in a shimmering world of golden corn and beans and falling leaves, a little second-grade girl in a plaid skirt and knee socks and penny loafers. And maybe I hiked up the hill to my grandmother's house and stopped for a snack, or maybe my mother had walked down the hill to meet me and we walked back up together and picked up my little brothers. And then we strolled back the gravel road that led to our own house (looking carefully for snakes, of course), where I entertained my four-year-old brother with tales of schoolyard adventures, and played with the baby as our great dane wandered around among us until dinnertime.
I hope that the little boy I saw today has hundreds of carefree afternoons ahead of him. Mine were about to end.
Beautiful photo. Such love, lost...
ReplyDeletePrayers. {{HUGS}}
ReplyDeleteNo words - only prayers and hugs.
ReplyDeleteThe most innocent and beautiful things can trigger hard memories and emotions. I am so very sorry for this enormous loss, suffered so early in your life, Robin. Sending love to you.
ReplyDeleteThese accounts always bring a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes. Not only for your profound loss but also because of your profound eloquence in expressing these deeply personal memories and emotions. Holding you close in the coming days.
ReplyDeleteThe amount and kind of grief you have experienced in your life is just mind-boggling. Your mother was so young, perhaps around the same age as your son when he died. It seems impossible to
ReplyDelete"process" so much loss.