9/8/19 RMB Diane Shea, Writer and
Champion of Peace
Dear Rita Mae Brown,
Diane’s daughter introduced me to
her. She sparkled with energy. Plants responded to her care and her backyard
was a wonderful place to be. Flowers bloomed and fruit could be picked right
from the tree that stood near the ever-ready chairs and canopy.
She joined our Writers Circle and as
the years passed, a history was revealed of an adventurous woman who joined a Peace
March across our country in her youth and traveled through other countries,
sharing their wonders with her children, including my friend.
Reading and writing were two of her
favorite hobbies and she did both with a flare. She published a book of poetry
and left several notebooks full of her life experiences. At our Writers Circle
gatherings, she sometimes read from those notebooks. What treasures they held.
Tonight, her breathing is labored,
and the coming days hold a new adventure for our friend.
When the time comes for her to
depart her presence will be missed, she will forever remain in our hearts. I
believe our loved ones return to visit even from that far away. I’ve seen too
much proof of it to believe anything else. She will be with us again, even more
closely than she has been recently as her body and mind provided challenges
that her spirit worked to overcome.
My dear Jennifer, who has mothered
her mother these last few years will be set free of this burden of love. And I
wonder if what she will feel is anything at all kin to what Diane felt as her
little girl went off to school for the first time or when she sailed away to
Baja California with her new husband.
All transitions tug at our hearts,
threaten to break them and leave new strengths and understanding in their wake.
9/9/19 It is morning now and Diane has
crossed over from here to there. She leaves us with the lifelong work she did
for Peace, her writing, her joys, and a bond with each other, made stronger
because her spirit is a part of our Circle.
Hugs,
Loraine
