.... AS I CONTINUE QUIETLY GAZING AT THIS PHOTOGRAPH OF MY ONLY GRANDSON & YOUNGEST "PRINCESS", MY 52 YEAR OLD MIND REFLECTS WINDINGLY THROUGH MANY, MANY YEARS & ROADS WELL-TRAVELED. ROADS WHICH HAVE BROUGHT ME TO THIS VERY POINT IN MY LIFE. "LIFE COMES FULL CIRCLE". TRULY !!!! .... THERE ARE SO MANY LEVELS TO THAT "SAYING".... I DO NOT MEAN THE "GEOGRAPHICAL" PLACE IN MY LIFE, NOR THIS "AGE OF SEASON" IN MY LIFE. JUST THIS "MOMENT IN TIME". THERE IS PROFOUND GRIEF IN THIS MOMENT. THERE ARE NON-REDEEMABLE REGRETS IN THIS MOMENT. THERE ARE QUIET PLACES I VISIT THAT ARE ONLY MINE. IN WHAT'S LEFT OF MY HEART I SEARCH DEEPLY FOR PAST TREASURES THAT GOD GAVE ONLY TO ME, THOUGH GREEDY HANDS GRAPPLED & BLACK MINDS FOUGHT FOR. SOMETIMES, LIKE A SUDDEN ROBBERY IN PROGRESS, I HAVE HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO SURRENDER WHAT WAS RIGHTFULLY MINE & FALL INTO THE "ARMS OF THE LIVING GOD" TO HOLD ME UP UNDER SEVERE DURESS UNTIL "HE" COULD ORCHESTRATE THE CHAIN OF EVENTS THAT BROUGHT BACK TO ME THE FEW TREASURES "I WAS" GIVEN. AS I GAZE AT THE VERY EVIDENT "BOND OF L <3 VE EXCHANGED BETWEEN "GRANDSON & 'PRINCESS' ", "I AM" ALSO GAZING INTO THE EYES OF 6 GENERATIONS.... GENERATIONS THAT SUFFERED THE "GREAT DEPRESSION", ABSTRACT POVERTY, STRUGGLES UP THE "CORPORATE LADDER". MY GREAT-GRANDPA BEASLEY WAS BORN AROUND 1883. MY BELOVED GREAT-GREAT AUNT NELLIE & UNCLE LOGAN BERRY BEASLEY AROUND 1903. MY PARENTS, GRANDSON & 'PRINCESSES' GREAT-GRAND-PARENTS, 1939 & 1942, RECEPTIVELY. "I AM" MORE THAN VERY "WELL-PLEASED" THAT "OLD-FASHIONED TRADITIONS" SUCH AS ....HO-MADE COOKIES & MEALS, "CANNING", LONG EXCURSIONS, BOOK READING & QUALITY TIME SPENT AT FAR & NEAR PARKS & BEACHES ARE STILL PRACTICED CONTINUALLY AS WELL AS "EATING OUT" !!!! IN MY GRANDSONS SOULFUL, BROWN EYES, I SEE MY MOTHER. IN "PRINCESSES" CERULEAN BLUE EYES, I SEE MY BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS. MY STORY COULD VERY SIMPLY GO ON, "AD INFINITUM", JUST LIKE LIFE. HOWEVER, I WILL SHARE MORE ANOTHER TIME. AS BARBARA STREISAND SO CAREFULLY PUT IT TO SONG.... "SCATTERED PICTURES LIKE THE CORNERS OF MY MIND".... COMES TO MINE AT THIS MOMENT. AND JUST LIKE THAT BEAUTIFUL SONG, I REFLECT BACK.... FARTHER, FARTHER.... REACHING ENDLESSLY FARTHER, IT SEEMS, TO, "THE WAY WE WERE".... 6 GENERATIONS AGO. AND ALL JUST FROM GAZING AT ONE PHOTOGRAPH.... YOURS AT THE PEN: SHERRI ;)
