I'll Be Seeing You

Think about it this way--our actions speak truth our words cannot.

We don't need to have the answers. We'll never have them. They'll come and go and change. And all we can do is figure out the best way to behave when life comes at us. Even if society says it isn't right. Right is so subjective, after all.

We are always waiting, aren't we? All in a state of hesitation and held breath. Sometimes it's glorious like a storm at the end of a hot day.

Sometimes the parts of us that we don’t like are useful.

We're all so multifaceted, and it's impossible to see all the sides at once.

Silence is a powerful tool.

When you put your whole heart in something you risk just that. Your whole heart. It's a high roller's type of gamble. I can tell by your letters that you love with your whole heart.

Did if feel like jumping off a cliff when he kissed you? I imagine it did.

When you feel weak in spirit, think about the agreements you made with yourself about how to live an honourable life. We all have them, but unfortunately the contracts are often written in invisible ink when they should be signed in blood.

It's good of you to teach the child. A woman needs to be as independent as she can be ore else the world will use her skirts as handkerchiefs and then toss her in the garbage.

Why don't you go to bed for a bit, Glory?" suggested Robert. "It's been a hell of a war." It's been a hell of a war, he said. I'll never forget it.

Charlie started crying, in the convulsive, soundless way that men do. "Don't you understand," he said after composing himself, "that's a funeral dirge for the first wave." We all thought about that, the many lives lost before we even opened our eyes this morning.

This war. It's stolen our peace. It's stolen our tomorrows as well as our yesterdays.

To put it bluntly, he could die. Any moment. But so could Robert and Sal and Toby. At least I am here with him. He's not alone. Our other boys? They are alone out there without us.

That is my job, right? To comfort him. To keep the portrait of what he left behind intact. Isn't that a woman's duty during wartime?

There is no reason for him to be in a strange land, the grim reaper holding him close, saying, "Yes, today is the day," or "No, not yet.

If I'm in this war, too, then I should be upset. You know I'm not the type to think collecting bacon grease and scrap metal will keep anyone from dying. How about you give me the words so you don't have to hold them in? It's the least I can do.

Now I've done it. Only one line to say I love you. And I do. Be safe. XO Rita

Anna used to say that the Buddhists meditate about reactions. That we cannot control WHAT happens to us, only how we react to it.

Did you ever catch a glimpse of what you could be, if you really tried at life?

Living inside of all this anxiety is difficult. I don’t know if I should grab at life or wait for it to grab me.

New ideas leave the old ones shaking in their shoes, don't they?

Sal says it's our responsibility as human beings to never lose our curiosity.

If I shut everything else out and filled the room with memories, the past could become the present, and I could live there, with him. I would never leave.

I'm not tasting this pie. I'm tasting all the pies you've made since you cut me a slice and passed it across the counter at the Mondlicht Café. I know what you can do.

I’m afraid, Glory. Afraid of what I read in the papers. Of not knowing if Western Union will deliver a telegram from someone I’ve never met, telling me my husband or son died on soil my feet have never touched.

Or you could simply throw down a few inches of compost and fake it. That's what we do, isn't it? Do the best with what we have? It's not lying, dear. Don't look at it that way. It's hopeful pretending. Consider it your patriotic duty.