We have a lot of remembering to do
That is so very sadly true, Schmae.
Somehow the overcast skies here are comforting and peaceful, solemn but letting enough sunlight through so that the beauty of nature, even in the heart of this city, can be appreciated. Sort of a metaphor, I think. The sunlight reminds me that the memories of happier times gradually become stronger, easing the sorrow a tiny bit every day. The autumn light really is cooler, I think, a little bluer than the gold and pink light you find in summer or spring days, but it has it's own beauty. It makes things a little mistier, a bit more removed and mysterious. The shadows are that much deeper, and a closer to dreams or visions of times past making it easier to see how, quietly, unobtrusively, life continues.
When I get home later, I will light the tealights and meditate and pray, and join the others who are also remembering the essence of their loved ones. That really is comforting. Kimi wrote so movingly about how the caring of WSs is like a quilt (Relisha's thread), and I love that image. It's the feeling of being accepted and cared for and protected that I felt when I was eight, and, after a hard day at school, I'd run home and dive under my mother's quilt, breathing in the scent of her perfume, hearing her laugh with my father, and trying to wrap myself in all that love for just a few minutes. And then my sisters and brother would join, and the raucous wrestling would begin.
So, when the light changes the shade of my fence from sturdy taupe to a gentle purple, I'll draw the warmth from Kimi's WS quilt around me, and remember.
If you see this, CC, I hope that you and FM find a small sense of peace today, and that here and there you will find some sunlight within the shadow.
Hugs from Lotus Land.