Pages 47 & 48 So much of this poem (shared yesterday) is about the simple, steady beauty in Grandma McKnight’s heart. It is so clear from this poem how connected Dad was with his mother, and how he still feels her with us — present, loving and patient as always. Grandma lived in a nursing home in Altoona, PA after a stroke left her partially paralyzed late in her life. Dad would call her often and read poems to her over the phone, including the poem “High Flight,” by John Gillespie Magee Jr., which she loved: “Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth, And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings” After grandma died, Dad often thought he should call her, but then he would catch himself and realize she was gone. Dad says this poem came to him on a startlingly sunny and brilliantly cold day in Vermont, when the clean shadows of the trees reflected on the snow seemed directional, pointing to something in the heart. … Grandma McKnight was the most religious person I ever knew, and as a child it seemed so foreign to me, especially as I tried to distance myself from the Catholic Church. Later in life, I found my own way to spirit and to prayer. Strangely enough, in the heart of my own seeking, I bumped right into Grandma McKnight as she was leaving this world. Grandma died while I was traveling for a month in Peru in 2008, so I was unable to attend her funeral. One of the spiritual teachers on my journey said I needed a prayer to add to my morning meditation practice, and I shared this on the phone with Dad when I called from Peru. Literally days after sharing this with Dad, he opened an old Italo Calvino book he hadn’t read in over 20 years and out fell a sealed envelope addressed to me from Grandma McKnight. Inside was a card that she had sent me, which I had never received. I was staring at her handwriting on this card, written 22 years before her passing. She had copied an “Irish Morning Prayer” for me in 1986. After she died, and I made a request, her spirit responded from that space in between. They say if you take one step toward God, he takes a hundred toward you. Even in the spirit realm, Grandma was listening and praying. In that moment I could see the light reflecting off the golden thread that connects all of us. It was as if Grandma McKnight was able to reach through to me somehow… to show me she was watching out for me, and that everything was okay — even in a very difficult time for me. The Irish Morning Prayer became a central part of my morning prayer and meditation practice, and helped me through a major life transition. More importantly though, this mysterious handoff between the spiritual and physical worlds made a believer out of me. — Maura
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 17:04:07 +0000
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