GRIEVING…LOVING…LIVING
Emily takes you on a journey in three parts.
Writing poetry was one woman’s journey through grief and loss and how she found healing from the pain of losing her husband. Her healing process began through writing as a way to express her feelings as she began to acknowledge her intense emotions of pain, loss, sorrow and grief.
This book will inspire readers to accept and voice their own struggles of loss and pain so they can begin life anew while moving through the intense stages of grief and sorrow. The act of mourning is painful, lonely and intense. Yet it can allow new doors to open so a new phase of life, purpose, reinvention can be yours.
This is the general Ballou, "the everything green" Army transport ship which brought me through great turbulence. From Bremerhaven, Germany to my America.
Please see ‘OUR KIND’ in Part 3, Musings at Morikami
PART 1 - I OWN THE WORLD
Early on their beginning connections grew steadily until there was no longer an ‘other’ but instead they became an ‘us’ – a structure of love that built its ramparts together, a joined circle of one, celebrating the grace of lasting embrace. Until the sadness came and would not let go its hold. Alan would leave a brilliant host of inventions and his work would save other’s lives yet not his own. Emily would be bereft without him.
PART 2 - MORNING MUSINGS
Emily found that adapting to her loss was the beginning of true mourning and release, discovering complete acceptance as she navigated her own path back to oneness. Once that process had begun, healing could occur. She was able to harness those deeper feelings of emptiness and loss by writing about the depth of her love and connection with her husband.
PART 3 - MUSINGS AT MORIKAMI JAPANESE GARDENS
Making it through the storm of loss, grief, loneliness and despair. This book is a blend of love and loss; reclaiming life while living within the strength of their love. Life is not just about the chaos we feel, but it can be the creation of a new day and knowing the bonds of love can never be broken.
Forward
These are the writings of a gifted poet, writer, thinker, feeler, artist...an intellectual whose love of words and cultural references shine brilliantly throughout her work. I have told Emily that the soul connection she had (and still has) with her Prince Charming Alan, will last an eternity through the poetry that she so deftly pens. What Emily shares is a oneness in a relationship beyond remarkable. This soul connection is truly unique; it is her gift to share so others may know the love which she feels so deeply, though rare, exists.
Yes, Emily has had the good fortune to have had it all. Born on June 6, 1945...D Day was symbolic of celebration of life that would unfold. Emily doesn’t disappoint. She shares her treasure...that she still has her beloved Alan to talk to and tell her deepest thoughts. She writes for Alan as her audience, proof that love and the spirit together go beyond death. Her daily discussions with him are intimate, as is her blend of grief and love.
This is Emily’s new normal, as all these poems are written in the year following Alan’s passing. This collection chronicles her first year of loss, her “year of magical thinking”. These collected poems are real and living proof that love and connection lives on and grows. In fact, Emily’s loss appears mitigated by the inspiration Alan provides as a present and ardent listener, awaiting their daily conversation. Emily’s sharing is her personal style of giving thanks and reverence for her abundance.
You will find Emily to be a hypersensitive empath who, yes, has had and still has it all. She feels the world so deeply and with such intensity that she devours it. See if she can convince you, as she has me, of her ownership of the world. Read on for the pleasure of her company.
Bonita Blazer, PhD
July 2019
Dedication
For Alan,
You Are
Every
Beat
Of
My
Heart
