2010-JAN-14-1035Hrs
TO: The Mausica Family
On Friday, January 15th, I was already scheduled to hold a vigil for Jacinta, the sister of a friend, who pssed to the ancestors in a war-torn country, and whose American-resident family were advised not to come, because funerals can be major opportunities to rob American returnees, by people who come as mourners. I was shocked on hearing this. We Trinis, I do not think, have descended to that level. Then, I was asked to include the Great -Grandmother of my little play grand-daughter, Joylyn, who passed last week, at age 100.Her Bhuddist family will observe a year of strict mourning. So, I am not too suprised to realize that I must add two more to the list of those I hold a vigil for.
Mr.Maundy was a friend and colleage. Ms. Fourniller remembered how he adopted her. Charmaine, his daughter, then about nine, adopted my sons Nigel and Larry Romain, as her baby brothers, and roamed the campus on week -ends with them in tow. I did not have to worry about them, if they were with her. I guess that abounding love runs in families. To me, Mr. Maundy was always a gentleman, and his wife was frienddly to this lone woman lecturer, whose husband no one had seen. (He did come home for a short stay when his mother died, but still, no one knew him, so the Maundy's were my campus family also.) An easy-going man. When I saw him at the Tobago reunion, I thought he looked frail, and he really did not remember who I was, but I went over to pay my respects, to an elder of the family. It was appropriate.
Now, to Feizal Mohammed,I have no idea what is must be like to lose an only son. I feel for you. You must be living temporarily ,in the kind of stupor my sisters and I lived in when, in August of 2004, we lost our two brothers and a niece, in 17 days, August 2, Edmund went, during surgery at Mt. Hope,Pauline Hollingsworth went on August 10, and Felix Edwards died of grief at his brother's passinfg, of a massive heart attack on August 17. (I was flying around so much that the TSA began selecting me for special screening.)We all thought we were going to lose it, particularly my sister whose daughter went on Aug.10. Today, we have healed, almost. We have new babies in the famiy to replace those that went home. My sister has embraced her grandchildren, realizing that she has to raise another generation. When that same sister lost her husband of 37 years last February, all she could say was "God is Good. We will survive this, too."
The deaths in 2004 brought us much closer, though one is in England, three in The USA and two in TnT. We talk almost every week.
My message to the Mausica Family is : Treasure those who are here, while we cope with the grief of the passing of some of us.It is only a matter of time before we all join that procession to the other side. Let every day matter. And to Feizal, I hope you consider this letter a hug of consolation and hope. You, and your family, will overcome this.
Meanwhile,I light a candle nightly for those caught up in the tragedy that is Haiti. Donations to UNICEF(www.unicef.org) can be made by credit card. UNICEF provided milk and biscuits for the elementary school children in TnT when I taught elementary school.
Linda E. Edwards-Romain (Faculty Mausica 1967-69)
No comments:
Post a Comment