Relative Something

This is a post that will be of particular interest to my brothers and sisters.

There have been three times for me lately, one after the other, where situations have brought to mind our sister and parents who are no longer with us. Each incident was interesting, in and of itself, but the fact that they grabbed my attention in such quick succession, has made it particularly noteworthy for me.

It started last weekend, when I wanted to take my bike out for a ride, after I picked it up from having new parts installed. I had the bike home, but I was completely overcome with exhaustion and felt like I could hardly keep my eyes open. I decided to take a nap. After I woke up, I figured I should eat something to get some fuel in my body, and then headed out on my bike.

The ride was a battle. I felt like I had nothing to give. Was my brake dragging? Were the tires low on air? Am I that out of shape? I don’t know if my siblings remember our sister’s story, but it really made an impression on me, and in that moment of my laboring, my mind went right back to how Linda described feeling, right before she discovered her illness.

She told me how she would try to do her exercise workout and would struggle to get in just a minute or two before she would be exhausted and need to quit. Not yet aware of the health issue she was facing, she described of telling herself she would try again the next day with a goal of doubling that time. We both laughed over the way the mind works: choosing to assume this was just a matter of being out of shape and that a doubling a minute or two of exercise –to reach a goal of maybe 4 minutes– was sound logic, and not any cause for alarm.

As this memory came back to me last weekend, I had a brief feeling of connection with her and renewed empathy for what she experienced.

Just a day or two later, I had some very vivid dreams, many details of which are now fading from my memory. Somehow, members of the Enblom family were involved, and the scenario morphed into a showing of artwork I had created over many years, much of it, pieces I had forgotten having made. More and more people I knew seemed to be appearing, and it was not illogical that Mary and Judy were there, too. One or the other of you had brought Mom along and I remember feeling happy to see her, and thinking I needed to make a point to visit with her, because it had been a while since I had done so.

It never occurred to me, during the dream situation, that Mom was no longer living. That made the transition from dream-state to wakefulness, a bit more significant than usual for me. It was special to have enjoyed the feelings of being in the presence of Mom once again.

Finally, yesterday during my lunch, I was reading the account of Minnesota Vikings’ running back, Adrian Peterson’s scare of a surprise allergic reaction to seafood he ate. I was really young when this happened to our Dad, but each detail I read yesterday seemed to tug me further back into my memories of the time when the ambulance came to our house and then later, our visiting Dad in the hospital.

Linda, Mom, and Dad, one right after the other. Special memories. I’m moved that they all came to visit me in this short span of time.