Howdy there palsngals, Slim Volume here with the latest about my old saddle pal, Ron Keil. We had a wondrous time last night with Ron & Kay at the care facility. He is fully awake and aware of his surroundings and circumstances. The post-treatment swelling of his brain has subsided and he can see, think, and remember again. He ekes out words with difficulty in a heavy whisper but he makes sense and his face is striking youthful and his eyes animated. He knows his time is limited- he said I dont know how much time is left on my clock- but as I clasped his thin bony hand in both of mine he listened to my old anecdotes with rapt interest and I think he understood and remembered most of what I regaled him with, as Suzannah Doyle sat in the back of the room and underscored my words with soft chords on her ukelele. Then she stepped forward and sat next to him and played some songs- including Youve Got A Friend by Carole King and Let It Be by the Beatles- while I sat next to Kay and held her hand with my eyes closed and let Suzannahs voice lift me free. My tears fell. Winter, spring, summer or fall- all you have to do is call... Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be- there will be an answer, let it be... And then Ron was tired and it was time for us to go. On our way to Suzannahs car I totally lost it right there on the sidewalk and cried like a child in front of god and everybody, knowing that Rons countdown to liftoff had begun, that there was no stopping the clock, and that everyone in this circle knew it. Here we go again... Suzannah hugged me as a veteran of many in-room hospice concerts and we healed our hearts by driving down to the Willamette where we took our shoes off and dipped our toes in the flow of the current at the Evanite boat ramp as the sun went down. After that we stopped in for dessert at the 2nd Street Bean and traded ideas for song lyrics and tried to make some sense of this big messy world that flows on like the river outside- unstoppable, inevitable- that same big long river that all of us dip our toes into whether we want to or not, feeling the same current pull us all towards the same destination, wondering when it will be our time to yield to it, let go, and be carried away from family and friends, wondering who will be there at our bedside, who will be there to hold our hand, who will be there to sing for us as the sky above that river goes dark and the stars come out finally and forever. Thats Slims story for a Thursday morning, and hes sticking to it.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 17:41:41 +0000
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