Love and Funerals
I'm in NYC for a funeral for my much beloved godfather. This has been one of the most grueling four-day periods of my life, capping two hellish weeks. It's not just my own grief, which has been rather intense, but seeing the people I've loved my whole life in great grief and pain as well. These are the people I have written about. The people I love.
It was a true Irish send-off, complete with bagpipers. And the SECOND I hear bagpipes, that's it. I lose it. I don't even have to KNOW the person, let alone being in the surreal experience of standing on the sidewalk on the lower East Side, watching professional pallbearers (who are amazing in their lock-step and perfectly choreographed ritual) carry in a coffin of someone I love as two men in kilts start playing. It's almost too much.
But even amidst all the grief, there is a sense of CLAN. A beautiful peace. A sense of coming together, all of us, and the way the bonds aren't broken by time or distance when we gather.
And that, I realize, has been a consistent theme in all my books from The Roofer to Billie Quinn's series . . . to Invisible Girl.
The clan.
Anyone else have that theme?
Peace and love,
E
It was a true Irish send-off, complete with bagpipers. And the SECOND I hear bagpipes, that's it. I lose it. I don't even have to KNOW the person, let alone being in the surreal experience of standing on the sidewalk on the lower East Side, watching professional pallbearers (who are amazing in their lock-step and perfectly choreographed ritual) carry in a coffin of someone I love as two men in kilts start playing. It's almost too much.
But even amidst all the grief, there is a sense of CLAN. A beautiful peace. A sense of coming together, all of us, and the way the bonds aren't broken by time or distance when we gather.
And that, I realize, has been a consistent theme in all my books from The Roofer to Billie Quinn's series . . . to Invisible Girl.
The clan.
Anyone else have that theme?
Peace and love,
E
posted by Erica Orloff at 10:49 AM
4 Comments:
Surfed over from Lisa Burton's blog, and saw your post. We did this for my father, who was the leader of our clan. It is totally a respectful, solemn, loving moment that you do not soon forget. I think you are right when you say we must write from that place. It's within us like veins.
leary:
It was absolutely beautiful in many ways, and I don't think I will ever forget it. And yes, as a writer, I was also thinking of how poetic the images were and so on. Not to mention that emotional truth and reality.
E
Erica,
I'm so sorry for your loss. My prayers are with you.
Jen
Juen:
Thank you for your kindness. I have a huge sadness . . . but I seem to be in a period of a lot of stress right now.
E
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