Ingrained
Our elbows, knees
crammed eight in a van
from Charleston
to Northern Michigan,
with a stop in New York,
boy farts, smelly socks
(just to torture his sisters)
happy hearts, non-the-less,
voices singing in unison
silenced,
as we drive by
a burnt out shell,
flipped
pillows, toys,
paper drawings
airborne,
enjoying summer's breeze.
by Margaret Bednar, December 13, 2012
I almost didn't write about this calamiti - this indelible image that lives in my mind. I think this is the first post I have ever done without a photo.
There were two car seats in a van just like ours - numerous pillows, binders, books, Disney tapes scattered all over the ditch and grass, papers blowing (Crayola & loose leaf) swirling on the road as the traffic drove through them. I remember thinking the papers looked like they were dancing and swirling when everything else looked so forlorn. Police, ambulance, long gone, the scene eerily quiet.
I am sorry for such a sad post so near the holidays (blame Fireblossom:) but it does remind us to hug our loved ones, enjoy today, enjoy now... Live!
This is for "Imaginary Garden with Real Toad's - Fireblossom Friday (Wednesday) "Calamities".
This is also for Friday Flash 55
Our elbows, knees
crammed eight in a van
from Charleston
to Northern Michigan,
with a stop in New York,
boy farts, smelly socks
(just to torture his sisters)
happy hearts, non-the-less,
voices singing in unison
silenced,
as we drive by
a burnt out shell,
flipped
pillows, toys,
paper drawings
airborne,
enjoying summer's breeze.
by Margaret Bednar, December 13, 2012
I almost didn't write about this calamiti - this indelible image that lives in my mind. I think this is the first post I have ever done without a photo.
There were two car seats in a van just like ours - numerous pillows, binders, books, Disney tapes scattered all over the ditch and grass, papers blowing (Crayola & loose leaf) swirling on the road as the traffic drove through them. I remember thinking the papers looked like they were dancing and swirling when everything else looked so forlorn. Police, ambulance, long gone, the scene eerily quiet.
I am sorry for such a sad post so near the holidays (blame Fireblossom:) but it does remind us to hug our loved ones, enjoy today, enjoy now... Live!
This is for "Imaginary Garden with Real Toad's - Fireblossom Friday (Wednesday) "Calamities".
This is also for Friday Flash 55
24 comments:
it does beg for a hug...its reality...my 55 last week was a bout a trailer fire...it happens, it rocks us...and we write it...and thank goodness it was not our time...smiles.
It is sad! It is like the singed edges of burnt paper, it touches us, but we aren't the ones scorched~
I guess we need to be reminded how fortunate we are~ :D
So sad to have to see something like that, but it just impresses on us how much we need to hug tight those we love.
My best friend's dad was a cop in Fort Worth. He had seen so much in all his years on the force. One day, he was the first on the scene of a MVA. There was a little girl about three years old that had flown out the windshield. He said that tiny tots are much more tiny when they are broken and lifeless. He retired after that, and after the nervous breakdown he had. That was the straw that broke the camels back.
It's the sort of thing that makes you either really relieved or a bit nervous as well as sad for them.
Witnessing things like this definitely put it all into perspective. Felt the eeriness in your description of the scene.
how awful, it's heartbreaking to see.things like this
Such scene remind us of our own mortality and the mortality of our children. They are very hard to look upon.
Hard to see this and not be moved. We drove a long way once when I was a kid and there'd been an accident a few minutes up ahead of us, of course we all looked out of the window, and all I saw was blood coming from the car staining the grass. Very sad.
A horrific scene...forever remembered...I have seen something like this twice. Never wish to see something like it again.
So sad to go by those scenes! whew...
I just pray.
Seeing something like that changes the perspective in a hurry, and is impossible to ever forget. You painted it vividly. I can just feel the sudden hush inside your van.
surely puts things in perspective...
My nephew, his wife and their baby daughter are making a similar trek to Michigan from North Carolina for Christmas, but with an added diversion to Pennsylvania. Not as many people jammed into the vehicle, but more miles - with a two year old!
Like the saying goes, once seen, never unseen. We do a great job most of the time at forgetting our mortality, our greatest vulnerabilities--I think we have to, to live a sane life--but things like this are the proverbial gut-punch. Very well-drawn and vivid 55.
Tragic
And real.
Sad Poetry
From the heart
JzB
Margaret Bednar...?
Boy THAT one sure got me in the Holiday Spirit!
But I guess it's not any worse than my Cannibal theme...:-)
Excellent 55 My Friend.
Thanks for playing, and have a Kick Ass Week-End
Truly does give us much to ponder and be thankful for in our own lives. Why does it seem that tragedies around the holidays are that much worse.
Yes, hug loved ones and savor the moment.
You paint the image so vividly. effective contrast of the crazy chaos in your vehicle next to the stark ending of that other family's trip. Yes, it makes me want to hug my loved ones.
This gave me chills!
to this day i remember us driving by a fatal accident when i was little. it made death real to me. ya' gotta blame Fireblossom for the depressing prompt. {smile}
wishing you Happy Holidays, Margaret!
♥
Tragedy is real.
Your images are well done.
Train of Thought
Everyone Has the Answer
To read this now after the Newtown tragedy only makes this more poignant, Margaret. (sigh)
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