Words Written, Memories Made &nbsp...

Words Written, Memories Made
                Theword that is heard perishes, but the letter that is written remains. Proverb
Words have always been important to me and my fascination with puttingthem together to tell stories is the reason I became a writer. In this age ofemails, texting and 140 character counts between hashtags, thoughts scrolledacross a piece of paper are a precious commodity. Throughout my life, I've seenhow words can heal and I've tried to use my voice in the books I write toconvey the depth of emotions I think possible in life.
About five years ago I started writing a book, Binding Arbitration. Theson of the main character has leukemia and he needs a bone marrow transplant.The story is about a mother's dogged determination to find a donor for herchild, but in the background it's about the treatment, outlook, and outcomesfor cancer patients. It was a difficult book to write and publish because atits core is a sick child, but it's also about the power of love to heal. It'sabout words written in letters that were never mailed but finally delivered, andthe power of those written words, that once read, were cherished.When I first wrote the book its theme was about the cycle of abandonment, butnow its become so much larger than that for me. I'd been one of the luckyfamilies that cancer hadn't touched, but now my father-in-law is in his thirdround of treatments against this insidious disease and is undergoing a bonemarrow transplant.
So life does have a way of imitating art.
One of my daughters came up with an unusual name for her grandfather whenshe was a toddler and somehow it's managed to stick, we call him G-Pop. WhenG-Pop first got sick I knew my girls wouldn't take it well, so as a way to copeI fell back on my written words and their power to heal. Each of my girlspicked out a journal, one of the journals has beautiful blue birds on it andthe other has whimsical owls. I told the Bluebird and the Owl to write G-Pop aletter in the journal and we would give it to him and then he would write thelittle birds back.
And so the journal entries ensued, but you have to understand, G-Pop wasa college professor his whole career and he knows how to use words wisely. Howmany people have you encountered who are truly wise? Wisdom is a gift so fewpossess and so precious that I looked forward to what G-Pop wrote back in thejournals as much as my Bluebird and Owl did. And I too learned new things aboutG-Pop that I'd never known.
Some of the questions Bluebird asked seem so mundane and yet G-Pop spunthem into lessons every child should learn from the lap of a man so wise, kindand patient. Bluebird plays softball and she asked G-Pop what his favoritegames were? G-Pop loves sports and both of his sons were collegiate athletesand G-Pop never missed a game they were playing in all the way through highschool. But G-Pop didn't mention any of that; he just talked about his love ofbaseball, but when he got to the close of that letter he said: "As for softball or whatever else you do, Ireally enjoy every moment of watching you. You remind me of your father. I seeso much of him in you. If you believe in yourself like he did in himself youwill have a wonderful future. Enjoy what you do and you will have a wonderfullife. G-Pop"
Our family has been fortunate enough to travel quite a bit, so Owl askedG-Pop where his favorite vacations were. G-Pop responded with the trips he tookwith his uncle Firpo in his own childhood, and then the vacation he took G-Momand his boys on to a ranch in Wyoming, and then some of the fabulous placeshe has gone to in his retirement, like Italy, England, Barbados, France, Hawaiiand Poland. But he closed with this: "Sopicking one vacation is hard. They all provide me with wonderful memories, a greaterappreciation that we really are all one people. We differ in appearance but weall seek the same things. We want to be happy, to be loved and to love, to berespected and to respect, and to be free of oppression and fear. We seek peaceand prosperity. We find comfort in our families and try to enjoy thingstogether. That's what creates our special memories. G-Pop"
                Then Bluebird told G-Pop abouther favorite things: her love of books (that she partially inherited from him)and about her favorite foods, meatballs at that time, and her favorite colorwhich was purple. G-Pop wrote back about all the different books that offeredhim so much pleasure. He wrote that his favorite food was Italian and then heasked if wine was a food, because he liked that, too. Then somewhere in themiddle of his letter he talked about his fascination with birds and bears andthe collection of bears he had gathered from places like Colorado, Alaska andChina and how G-Mom humors him by putting them on the mantle once a year. Hesaid, Bears have always fascinatedme—they are big, strong yet docile and funny at times. The instant I readthose words I understood his kinship with the bear. G-Pop is a tall man, withsilver hair as pure as a polar bears' coat, he's strong and yet the gentlestperson I've ever encountered. In all the years I've known him I've hardly everheard him raise his voice, but he is like the bear in his fierce regard for hischildren and grandchildren. Perhaps what makes him most like a bear is strength,inner strength. The bear doesn't pick battles but when one comes looking forthe bear you know he'll fiercely fight it. And while he's fighting his battlewith cancer, this bear will take the time to look around the forest and call tohis little birds, leaving them handwritten letters in books they'll treasure forever.
                And so I'll close with one of myabsolute favorite quotes.
                How frail and ephemeral is thematerial substance of letters, which makes their very survival so hazardous.Print has a permanence of its own, though it may not be much worth preserving,but a letter! Conveyed by uncertain transportation, over which the sender hasno control; committed to a single individual that may be careless orinappreciative; left to the mercy of future generations, of families maybeanxious to suppress the past, of the accidents of removals and house-cleanings,or of mere ignorance. How often it has been by the veriest chance that theyhave survived at all. Elizabeth Drew.
                When was the last time you wrotea letter worthy of survival? When was the last time you put pen to paper andwrote someone a note they will cherish forever?
Bluebird and Owl have a journal filled with letters written by the manwith the strength of a bear, the wisdom of a sage and the heart of an angel.This first post is dedicated to G-Pop, Bluebird and Owl, and G-Mom too!
ElizabethMarx