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My husband and I were recently guests at a surprise party thrown in our honor. Where, how, to begin explaining what it is like to arrive at my son and daughter-in-law’s home, the home you go to every week, expecting the dogs to come running out to greet you and some small, meaningful celebration awaiting you, only to be greeted by seven grandchildren and their spouses, family and friends – gathering in Connecticut from Hawaii, California, Wyoming, New Orleans, Boston, Maryland – all for the sole purpose of honoring you on your wedding anniversary.
There were an abundance of flowers blossoming in a rainbow of colors, out of gardens and gorgeous vases, bubbles flying, champagne flowing – tables laden with food and a gorgeous cake my daughter-of-the-heart lovingly made – like something out of a movie – a fantasy at that – so beyond anything you could ever have expected – so beyond anything you could ever have imagined you deserved.
Beyond that – the memories captured, mysteriously to me, of my husband’s and my graduation photos from college, wedding pictures, photos of myself and my late, well-loved sister, – perhaps at the ages of ten and fourteen. A video, that somehow captured every moment of our lives together from college, where we met, to present day. Every detail telling us – we care – we care – we care… And if that is not recognition of love, celebration of love, comittment to love – I will never know what love is.
This newsletter – through the voice of poetry – the voice that speaks for me – attempts to explain how this day – this one incredible day will live on – be relived – be forever stored in our hearts. It is a memory unlike any other. It is a gift beyond any other. Metaphorically speaking – it is the stuff of shooting stars and rainbows…
WHAT CARING DARES
To Catherine & David
What caring dares
is offer more
than anything
perceived before
kindly
as a tranquil sea
adores the sun-soaked shore
lightly as a late
September breeze
entices trees to joyfully
release their leaves
like smiles
into the open arms
of street and
soil…what caring dares
is reach
a hand
brush
away a tear
pledge
that on the darkest night
within the brittle clasp
of frigid air
marauding storms
there will again
be light
all things as lifeless
as a stone begin
anew
to grow earth
remembers
how to sing……what caring dares
devotion
unconstrained
expanding into something
so renewing it teases you
to leap beyond the sky
desire hope
want need
thankful to
lay yourself in
arms that hold
take you in
to somewhere
known only
in the scope of dreams
amaranthine love……what caring dares
is giving
then giving more
you store it all as though
remembering the sting
of winter’s chill
intensifying in
to what you never knew
was the vastitude
of joy was breath
the feeling that
you mattered more
than any moment in your life
before whom you were
are
may have
a thought to be
lifting you above setting
you apart
because
they dared to care
expanding beyond limitless
the boundaries
of the heart…
-Susan A. Katz (All rights reserved)
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