It was unexpectedly sad for me to be back in my mother’s formerly gorgeous, jewelbox of an apartment. The space is still beautiful, but the grief comes and goes. Buddhist meeting last night was all about loss and death, and accepting it as a part of life along with everything else. Nichren says, "Regarding life and death with abhorrence and trying to separate oneself from them is delusion, or partial enlightenment. To clearly perceive life and death as the essence of eternal life is realization, or total enightenment.” But what do we do with the sense of loss?
Went around the corner to Fairway for a Greek salad, sat and had lunch, next to Lucille in Riverside Park. Between my grieving, and trying to be more mindful about gear shifting on the ride home, even Lucille could not cheer me up much today. But I sure am glad she’s around.