Legacy

I leave you

the morning sun

shining out of

a hot blue sky

in summer;

and the sharp scent of the first

raindrops

after a thunderstorm.

I leave you the

soothing softness

of the first spring rain,

and the fresh

mist

rising off the mountains

on a coastal morning.

I leave you the night sky,

your own personal Planetarium,

its show changing

from night to night,

from year to year.

I leave you

my gratitude

for the beauty

of the world;

it has sustained me,

and kept me alive

through dark times

towards

 a brighter day.

I leave you the sunrise,

with each new day's

early promise,

and the sunset,

each evening's

benediction.

I leave you the forests green,

to be their guardians,

and the ocean's

endless waves,

to remind you

there is

a larger landscape

than the one

we see.

I leave you

the wonder

of a snow-topped

mountain,

and the dew drops

sliding

off the curled

leaves of dawn.

I leave you

a world of wonder

to walk through

with eyes open,

and a reminder

to tread gently

upon the planet's skin.

I leave you

the awareness

that

everything

is a

miracle,

and the recognition

that we are

much more than

we can understand.

I leave you

a whisper

on the winds

of tomorrow,

to

 remind you

that

I love you,

that you

fulfilled

my journey.

Through you

I have known

laughter and tears,

have grown up

and have

grown whole.

When you miss me,

look up

at the sky,

share a blue sky

moment,

 and know that I am near.

Or walk beside the sea

and, in its roaring,

remember

how I loved it,

and walk along
the shore
a ways

with me.

Welcome to the World, Baby Noah!

Noah Samuel Provost, born November 18

7 pounds, 13 ounces

He was in intensive care for the first two days,

but then went home

with mom and dad. 

In his bunny suit, going home from the hospital.

His soother is as big as his face!

Nappin' in the carseat while Mom and Dad shop.

(Probably buying stuff for Baby!:))

A closer look at this sweet dreamer.

At home, getting some good zzzzz's.

Mom and Dad, Lindsay and Richard,

relieved and happy to be home

with Baby safely here.

All is well!

Lindsay is my cousin Sandra's daughter,

my second cousin.

She and Rich live in Kelowna now, after some years in Hawaii.

My Aunt Donna and Uncle Don are her grandparents, and are

so happy to have the young people living in town now, close by.

Welcome to Planet Earth, Baby Noah!

You're getting your first look,

but there's tons more to see.

It is a really beautiful planet.

Mom 'n Dad will show you lots of cool stuff.

                                     

Here are your folks, Lindsay and Rich, down by Okanagan Lake, 

in the summer before you arrived.

Waiting for Baby Noah.

Next summer, you'll be going to the lake too,

like your Mom did when she was little.

This is such a beautiful array of photos

to show you how in love and happy your parents were,

waiting for you to arrive.

[These black and white photos, and the one color photo below, were taken by

Tamara Poppitt of Poppy Photography of Victoria.]

Your dad is telling a secret to your mom. I'll bet it was about you!

How many kids get to have a beautiful Mom AND a beautiful Grandma?

Sandi and Linds

Noah, let's look back at some of the people in your history.

Your Grandma Sandi and I have been close since she was born and I was twelve years old. I used to babysit her and her brother, your Uncle Cal. Grandma Sandi used to come with me and my kids on our hikes  up Knox Mountain. Here, she is about eighteen.

She has always loved the Lake.

And she has always been beautiful, inside and out.

She has what I call a True Heart. You'll soon find that out

because she has loved you since you first began.  Since you were a tiny speck in the universe,

she has been waiting for you.

This is Grandma Sandi with HER Grandma Marr.

Sandi and your Great-Great-Grandma and I

were all very close, always. Here they are visiting me at my little house

full of children on Ethel Street.

Guess who this is? Your mom, Lindsay,

the light of your Grandma's life.

(Now you're another light!)

Your mom was getting a little bigger......my daughter Stephanie

remembers Lindsay chasing her around the table with a big greasy turkey drumstick, when they came for Thanksgiving dinner the year Linds was two :)

and bigger still........

Grandma Sandi has always loved the ocean. When I lived at the beach,

she would come to visit me

and we would walk for miles, then sit on the rocks or the sand just staring at the waves.

Wait till you see the ocean! It is BIG!

Here we are at sunset. The end of a beautiful day.

This is your Great-Grandpa Don and Great-Grandma Donna,

who are going to enjoy watching you grow!!!

Here is your family, when your cousin Lori, my sister, visited last summer.

Everyone was waiting for you.

Lori loves horses. Wait till you see what she got you for a present.

Sorry, it isnt a pony! :)

Your Clan. The people who will love you the most your whole life.

We're going farther back now. Here is Great-Grandpa, looking pretty cool and suave!

When he was younger, Don drove this zooty car.

Don, Sandra, Cal and Donna.

I  loved their cute little house

when I used to babysit there.

I learned how to keep house from the way

Donna looked after her little home.

Sandra, age three.

One year Sandra and Cal were in the local paper on Christmas Eve.

So adorably cute they were, Sandra with her huge blue eyes, Cal with his big brown ones.

Once when Cal was being admonished to clean his plate, because

"there were hungry children in the world", he said

"Why doesn't somebody feed dem, den?"

So true.

Here is a family Christmas

with Great-Great Grandma and Grandpa Marr,

Great-Grandma and Grandpa

 Sandi and Cal.

I remember that pink dress my Grandma

was wearing. She had a pale turquoise one

just the same.

We went a long ways back. But it doesn't seem so long ago to those of us who are older.

We love seeing you arrive, a new little person that we can watch experiencing the world.

We will see it all brand new once again, through your wide eyes.

Welcome, Baby Noah!

You already have a lot of fans!

COMPLICATED PLOTS

The Narrows, Stamp Falls
May 18, 2004

Complicated plots.....
the one we tended on Mother's Day,
my parents' remains housed
under a plaque reading 'Together Forever',
the love story that pain and grief
just could not sever,
my stepfather
planted alone,
farther away.

Or the plot of their lives,
even more complicated
with joy and tears,
moseying together
through all the shambling years,
("I'll Get By")
like obedient donkeys
who sometimes got
the stubborn urge
to fly.

Complicated plots.....
me and my children
playing out
generations of dysfunction
but surviving,
nay, better than that,
with grins on our faces,
thriving,
midst the formidable, the difficult,
the unrecognized heroic,
with hang-in-there tenacity,
(hey, we're stoic),
much cackling, disbelieving
sudden laughter,
the legacy of humor
that lingers
after.

Complicated plot:
lacking a compass,
I did roam
some highly peculiar
pathways
before finding the
Road Home.

If my life was fiction,
"none of this is believable!"
you would say.
But
I'm not allowed a rewrite,
to live it a better way,
so I'll have to let
the whole damn story
stand.
You'll recognize
the thread running through it,
strand by strand,
the way a shadow
plays with light
upon the land.

Next?
Am I "there" yet?
A few peaceful chapters
before I go to sleep?
Or a stopping place
where I rest before
I make
one more
great leap?
Where will this earth-suit
finally come to a
full. stop.
(My spirit cries "Tofino!",
the land where I'm most free,
so I can lie forever more
beside the pounding sea,
roaring in full fury
upon that wilder shore,
hear the winter wind howl and lash
among the trees,
an eagle circling,
dropping one lone feather
down
to me.)

An even more complicated plot:
who will pay the Final Bill
at my demise?
I, the master bill payer
and helper
all my life,
with money
have been generous, not wise.
Unable to accumulate
the Passage
to my final reward
up in the skies,
I have to ask
whatever listening gods and angels:
can I take the Budget Plan
to Paradise?

I will leave little
in material goods
to say that I was here.
But be of excellent
and unfailing cheer,
for in all that really matters,
I'm living rich:
a wealth of books and music,
a clean, green sweep of lawn,
the gift of Time,
more precious now
the limits have been drawn,
(also, the past,
all the more dear
for being
gone.)

When you miss me,
come and find me.
I'll wrap the clues
in all my stories,
all my poems,
all the happiness
I had
that I can never
lose,
in a million photos
of my one great love,
the sea.
In all these things,
you can remember
me.