Sorrow

One of my Facebook friends posted this lovely Rumi quote today. I just had to steal it since it fit in so well with my mood. Fall - moving into the darker season - always makes me feel a bit gloomy. Memories of my parents who passed away a while ago seem to lurk around every corner. So I was glad to find that quote to combat the gloominess!

"Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place."

Do you think missing someone very intensely makes us dream of them? Last night I dreamed of my mother's reading glasses. She had come home from the hospital, where she had gone through yet another round of chemo therapy, and found her glasses smudged. First she was getting annoyed. She thought that someone had grabbed them with dirty fingers. But upon closer inspection she realized that the smudges where imprints of lips. Somebody had kissed the glasses. Not sure what this dream means. But I woke up happy. It's wonderful to have your loved ones live on in your dreams.

I must be real close to that joy Rumi talks about, don't you think? I find bits and peaces of that joy in my childrens' faces. I find parts of it in my work on my dolls. Maybe some day it will be complete again?