Signs of the Times

You judge by the times you live in. My mother and I once had a talk about how it was for her during World War II. Casualties touched every family and every family had members on the front. She confided she could not bear to watch movies about that time because they brought back too sharply her memories of Dad overseas and her trying to prepare a home for my older brother, herself and him for his return, while terrified he wouldn’t make it back. Too many of her friends had received notice their spouses were never coming home.

Many who did return went on reserve status for the extra money and then had to do it all over again in Korea.

I remember: the attacks on civil rights protesters in Alabama; the protests and sit-ins against Vietnam; The murder of Kent State students; The militarization of the Black Panthers; the assassinations (JFK, King, RFK, Malcom X); the bombings. It didn’t seem like this country could ever return to an even keel.

The millennials have their own set of challenges. They are an interesting generation. I hope they have the opportunity to  produce the truly great things of which they are capable.

Just a few thoughts.

61 Broad Street - IMO Nana, Muz and Joe

There are three rooms I rarely see,

Though in my mind they ever be.

There are three people in those rooms,

Who give my spirit sanctuary.

When I can, I visit them,

When I can’t, I miss them.

Three people in three rooms.

The rooms are not elaborate,

No gilt bedecks the walls.

The staircase to them creaks a bit,

“Be careful, or you’ll fall.”

The people there are loving.

They claim me as their own.

Suffer all my failings,

Give my heart a home.

If it has been months or a year,

Since I was there before,

No awkwardness disturbs the air,

When I walk in the door.

Walls of solitude surround us,

And sometimes must be broken.

Here, they seem to vanish,

As if they’d never been.

I love them very dearly,

Would like to let them know,

The strength that has been given to me,

By Nana, Muz and Joe!

Mary Ann Loewenstein

1977