|
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 3,109 Likes: 41
Boards Chief Administrator Pulitzer
|
OP
Boards Chief Administrator Pulitzer
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 3,109 Likes: 41 |
I know I said I was leaving and getting ready for work... but I couldn't let this escape my attention. Beautiful. Poignant. Sad. (((((((((((((Wendy)))))))))))) I don't know well enough to know how much of this rings true for your mother, but regardless, I hope this helped you to say goodbye. I've lost a few people in my life, and I've always found writing to be a blessing. My deepest sympathies to you and your family, Wendy. Sara
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,293
Top Banana
|
Top Banana
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,293 |
{{{{{{{{Wendy}}}}}}}}
Beautiful, eloquent and devastatingly sad.
I daren't ask how much of this was Lois speaking and how much was the author's own voice, but thank you so much for sharing this with us, Wendy. Like Sara, I hope that writing it has given you some peace.
Yvonne
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,761
Pulitzer
|
Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,761 |
So touching I didn't know about your mother, Wendy, but you have my sympathies. I hope you're feeling better after such a painful experience. See ya, AnnaBtG.
What we've got here is failure to communicate...
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,791
Merriwether
|
Merriwether
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,791 |
*hugs*
Wondeful story. I have a feeling the cloth for my cross-stitch isn't supposed to be used for tears. Oh, well, it won't hurt it. Very touching. Thank you for sharing this with us.
"You need me. You wouldn't be much of a hero without a villain. And you do love being the hero, don't you. The cheering children, the swooning women, you love it so much, it's made you my most reliable accomplice." -- Lex Luthor to Superman, Question Authority, Justice League Unlimited
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,099
Top Banana
|
Top Banana
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,099 |
I, too, was very moved when I read this story. So very intensely emotional. Thanks for sharing it, Wendy. {{{{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}}}}} Kaethel
- I'm your partner. I'm your friend. - Is that what we are? - Oh, you know what? I don't know what we are. We kiss and then we never talk about it. We nearly die frozen in each other's arms, but we never talk about it, so no, I got no clue what we are.
~ Rick Castle and Kate Beckett ~ Knockout ~
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,168
Top Banana
|
Top Banana
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,168 |
Wow, Wendy. This is incredibly touching. I don't really know what else to say - I just stared at tis window for about 10 minutes. Just know that your story touched really deeply. {{{{{{{{{{{{Wendy}}}}}}}}}}}}} Julie
Mulder: Imagine if you could come back and take out five people who had caused you to suffer. Who would they be? Scully: I only get five? Mulder: I remembered your birthday this year, didn't I, Scully?
(The X-Files)
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,992
Pulitzer
|
Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,992 |
Wendy {{{{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}}} This is very touching and extremely sad. It brought back lots of my own memories and feelings, and had me in tears. Thanks for sharing this. I hope this has helped you to cope with the situation and find some peace. Tricia.
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,047
Top Banana
|
Top Banana
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,047 |
A loving tribute. No matter how difficult the relationship, the pain and regrets that would rightfully be there, the affection of daughter for mother still shows through. I liked this especially: It’s a cliché, of course, and like any cliché it loses its meaning through repetition. And yet suddenly there’ll be a moment where it makes total sense. It makes sense now. So completely true and very smart. CC
You mean we're supposed to have lives?
Oh crap!
~Tank
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,999
Merriwether
|
Merriwether
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,999 |
Wendy, well done. A touching an emotionally complex story, but for those of us who have suffered through the loss of a parent, one that rings with universal truths.
There will always be things 'left unsaid', things that we should've, could've, might've done but find that it's now too late. Whether the voice was Lois', using the series as the basis for her internal monologue, or exposed some of the authors own personal feelings and experiences doesn't matter. There is a certain amount of commonality to a loss like this.
We all wonder how our parents really saw us. Were they proud of what we accomplished, even if we ourselves never felt like much of a success? We know we were loved, that's a given, but were we liked? How were our choices viewed? Did they approve, or merely accept them?
And what about the reverse? Did they know how much they really meant to you? Were your feelings clear even if you never made a habit of expressing them?
All those types of emotions are universal to the situation, and Wendy, you did a great job of examining them using Lois, and her relationship with her mother (which was portrayed as less than 'loving' on the show).
I found the bit on Lois' barely recognizing her sick mother as especially poinient. But I can say from experience that those shocking revelations are not the images that stay with you. My memories of the frail, shrunken man whom I had to carry from his bed to the bathroom have grown fuzzy over the years. Instead, when I think of my own father, I remember the strong, confident, no-nonsense man who ruled the house I grew up in. In my dreams he's not the stroke disabled person who fought increasing physical decline for the last twenty years of his life. He's still the whole, robust parent who could do anything. For Lois, (and Wendy), it will probably be the same. The lasting memories will be the good ones.
Tank (who hopes that Wendy, and her family will be able to embrace the good memories, and take comfort in friends and family during these tough times)
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,380 Likes: 1
Kerth
|
Kerth
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,380 Likes: 1 |
Very touching and sad.
Nan
Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 699
Columnist
|
Columnist
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 699 |
Tank is so right, Wendy. I don't think much of the last days anymore.
You moved me to tears.
{{{{{{{Wendy}}}}}}
Irene
I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,644
Pulitzer
|
Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,644 |
{{{Wendy}}}
This was painful to read, especially wondering how much of it was from direct personal experience, but it was beautifully done. It can't have been easy to write, either -- I hope writing it helped you work through your grief, a little bit.
PJ
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,441 Likes: 1
Top Banana
|
Top Banana
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,441 Likes: 1 |
I guess you never get too old to want your mom to say she loves you. Very poignant and touching. Hope it was therapeutic for you, Wendy. As George Henry Lewes said, "The only cure for grief is action." <><><><> "Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form." ~The Rumi <><><><> "Every mortal loss is an immortal gain." ~William Blake <><><><> --Ankit
If she had to move heaven and Earth, perhaps come back to haunt Perry and explain the story after they'd killed her, she would do it.
Waking a Miracle by Aria
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 509
Columnist
|
Columnist
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 509 |
Ohh Wendy
{{{{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}}}
Very sad story, you moved me to tears. Hope you feel better soon.
I am very sorry for your mom.....
The story was excelent.
Karla
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 552
Columnist
|
Columnist
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 552 |
That was really beautiful and sad.
Rach
Me: what are you looking at *Snatches pic* OMFG! Dean smeared in peanut butter?! WTF?! Sara: LMAO it was chocolate!! smeared in chocolate! Me: LMFAO chocolate smeared in chocolate! Sara: LMAO the *chocolate* isn't smeared in chocolate! Me: that's the way i read it. was trying to picture chocolate smeared in chocolate Sara: ROTFLMAO
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,587
Merriwether
|
Merriwether
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,587 |
Beautiful.
(((((Wendy)))))
May you find peace.
Do you know the most surprising thing about divorce? It doesn't actually kill you, like a bullet to the heart or a head-on car wreck. It should. When someone you've promised to cherish till death do you part says, "I never loved you," it should kill you instantly.
- Under the Tuscan Sun
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,133
Top Banana
|
Top Banana
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,133 |
Mother, you were only 57! That’s far too young... I had to stop reading here because my tears got too uncontrolable. My mom is 56. Only 56. 56 and 3 months. And far too young to die. - Laura
Laura "The Yellow Dart" U. (Alicia U. on the archive)
"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles." -- Christopher Reeve
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,217
Kerth
|
Kerth
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,217 |
{{{{Wendy}}}} J
"Practice up your shielding spells...and remember to duck if you see green light coming your way." Harry Potter to Wizengamot in OotP trial A Bad Week in the Wizengamot
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,047
Top Banana
|
Top Banana
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,047 |
((((((Wendy))))))
I'm so sorry. May you find peace and comfort at this hard time. This story was beautiful and so full of emotion.
~Liz
Lois: Can I go? Clark: No. Lois: Oh come on, Clark, why do we go through this? We both know I’m going to go. Clark: Then why do you ask? Lois: I’m trying to be nice.
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,454
Pulitzer
|
Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,454 |
Thank you all. Your words and thoughts mean far more than I could ever say. As is pretty obvious - and as some of you already knew - this isn't just any story. I lost my mother almost four weeks ago. It was completely out of the blue - it seems incredible that one week I was talking to her on the phone and then a few days later she was in hospital, in intensive care; and a few days after that we were booking emergency flights to Dublin because she had days to live. That said, this is a work of fiction, of course. Yes, some of the details and of the emotions are real, while others are invented to fit Lois's probable situation. Some of the sentiments here are universal, as a few of you have said in your comments; I couldn't imagine a single person who has lost someone important to their lives who doesn't have that feeling of regrets for things left unsaid, a relationship left unfinished. And I dare say that most of us have conflicted feelings for one reason or another. A couple of people have said privately that this touched a chord within them, reminding them of painful losses they experienced. If this has been too painful a read for anyone, then I'm sorry - I should have put a warning on it, I guess. Laura, I know what you're going through and if this made it worse for you, I am really sorry. On the other hand, if it helped anyone, then I'm glad. Writing it helped me, and I hope that you'll forgive the self-indulgence involved. Thank you all again. I am truly touched and grateful to have the support of so many friends here. Wendy
Just a fly-by! *waves*
|
|
|
|