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Tag: life cycle

a kaddish for those who choose their ends

Posted on 28 February 201123 March 2011 by erin

They offed themselves. Both of them, together. She’s pissed, and devastated, and who wouldn’t be? But I can’t help admiring their decision, even as I share her grief and anger.

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reasons for staying alive

Posted on 20 February 201127 March 2011 by mira

We were signing papers. Getting them notarized. It was a jocular moment. I was trying hard to keep it that way. I was giving him complete authority to take over my affairs should my brain start to melt and/or body start to fry its circuits. For that time, in other words, when we cease to…

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the paintbrush

Posted on 10 January 201127 March 2011 by mira

“What you really want is closure,” he said. I had called him knowing I was in peril. I asked him what he thought I should feel. He’s pretty good at feeling stuff. But I’m not so sure he’s right. I’m not sure closure is attainable in cases like this. Just as I’m not sure there could…

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what is it about cemeteries?

Posted on 31 December 201027 March 2011 by mira

Sometimes just going out to lunch or dinner with an ex isn’t just the pleasant experience you think it’s gonna be. We went to one of the places we usually go to. We ordered items congruent with who we each are at the moment. And instantly, the conversation turned to disease, dying, and death —…

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epitaph for a tzaddik

Posted on 24 November 201023 March 2011 by mira

New Orleans. With the voudon priest. Again. He gives me a reading. And one of the things he says is: “Don’t go to the cemetery. He’s not there. Go to the place where he still resides. The place where he still lives.” And all I can think of is well, where is that? Where is…

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yahrtzeit for the tzaddik

Posted on 24 October 201023 March 2011 by mira

Do I still get to cry? The first year ends, and I’ve been living the dying over and over. Actually, it all started two years ago with her. And I just couldn’t get over it, and then, wham — the tzaddik is ill, the tzaddik is terminal, the tzaddik is gone. I think it’s time…

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zipping through the life cycle — a sufi parable

Posted on 8 October 201023 March 2011 by mira

Nothing like your firstborn’s wedding to put the reality principle front and center, life cycle-wise. Ten seconds ago I was giving birth. Ten seconds from now I’ll be under a pile of dirt, or small particles blowing in the wind. Pop! We appear. Poof! We’re gone. This, says Tylor (that would be Sir Edward) is…

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© 2010–24 by Mira Z. Amiras and Erin Vang (beitmalkhut.org). All rights reserved worldwide.

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Permission to use Lev Kogan's "Kaddish," © 1982 by Israel Brass Woodwind Publications
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