bliss blog 5

Bliss 5 While working on sharing my bliss of the winds voices with the world, or at least all of you who read my blog, I have discovered that bliss is not limited to one activate or another. Yesterday, I devoted to helping Doris around her home. (For those of you who don’t know Doris she is a vibrant 88year young friend). We hung new curtains and bought paint for Raymond, (my son ) to paint the awning on the outside of her place. Raymond, Bear,(my partner) and I have made it a Sunday activity to spend time with Doris assisting her in having the home she always dreamed of. Bear has hung new blinds for her. He is also the huller when we need supplies for our projects. Raymond repaired three leaky drains, planted a new flowerbed and now the awning above it will be refreshed. I have enlisted other people to contribute their talents too. Zalima came over and opened up, rearranged, the living room and dinning room furniture to let the air flow. Sonom helps keep everything in order. Doris’s home is become the show place she always dreamed of. We are taking what has always been there and bringing it out from hiding. As we work Doris share the story of her being a caregiver for her late husband and her older sister. Between the two over 35years she chose to set aside her life and devoted it to them. Now she says it is her turn. There is more to this story then the show place that is being created by and for Doris. That’s just the surface expressing the freedom that is coming out to be shared with the world. This in done in the stories Doris shares too. It is my joy to listen to the stories she tells. They whirl around in my head until they connect to situation that are familiar to me. Doris speaks about her childhood and being raised on a farm in NY. That’s how I was raised. Same state but different ends. She spent her time with her mother learning to do crafts and assisting with the food preparation. So did I. (I also worked with the farm animals and often would trade any of my four brothers their chores in the barn for mine in the kitchen. I liked to make sure everyone got feed). Because we share a common back ground it is easy to listen to the stories she shares. I can see in vivid details the farm and the kitchen she spend her childhood in. The conversation continues. She starts a conversation about how life has changed so much in the last 80 years. Technology being the big thing. Yet, there are thing that are still going on that are the same. She says you are 33 years younger then me and our childhoods where a lot a like. Your great nieces are 40 years younger then you and they live a life very similar to the farm life we had. All three of these generation can raise crops and we all know how to preserve food if we need too. These conversation could go one for ever but for today the time with Doris draws to an end. I am aware of the hours that I have spent as quiet as possible to hear the stories of her past. She reminds me that that I now carrying her memories. That there are none left in her blood line. To share her life stories with. I reach out and gather this lovely lady in my arms to embrace the child I feel inside her. As I hold her in my arms I share with her that I am a story teller and that to tell a story I must be able to listen. Once I have shared a story with someone they become apart of my world my life force. Always they add value to my life. I might not always like the story they tell and some times it stings my heart. No matter what my response is I can never go back to not knowing. That is how it is for all of us. We are never alone. The fact is all of our stories are the circle of life. The last thing today I have to give to Doris is a memory I have of Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha singing a wonderful song . Her voice is like that of the Ancients in harmony with the sounds of nature. I close my eyes and softly sing the phrase I remember. Life is a Cycle, a Cycle is a Circle, and in a Circle every thing returns to where it began. . I gentle kiss Doris’s check as I release her from our embrace. This song is my heart and soul singing. When I visit next I will bring the copy I have. We will shear a new memory together as the cycle of life continues. So that helping others, listing and telling stories. Oh yes, this is bliss in my life too!!!! “We are one together” Rev. Marylois R. Schott