Feeling it acutely
This little girl named Mary Elizabeth Sawyer was born in 1806 and she led a fairly unremarkable life except for two things:
-
- She had a little lamb, whose fleece was white – as white as snow, in fact. And this little lamb followed Mary everywhere.
- Her friend, John Roulstone, upon seeing this, was so amused, he wrote her a poem about it.
The poem went:
Mary had a little lamb;
Its fleece was white as snow;
And everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.
It followed her to school one day,
Which was against the rule;
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school.
And so the teacher turned it out;
But still it lingered near,
And waited patiently about
Till Mary did appear.
There’s some question as to the validity of all this, but I like to believe it.
See, almost everyone in America has heard about Mary, knew her situation, and remembered her little lamb that she loved so much, and that loved her so much.
But I’m struck that everyone forgot that Mary was a real person, with all her hopes and dreams, and people – and animals – that loved her deeply.
Even if the poem wasn’t actually Mary Elizabeth Sawyer, the hope is that Mary was a real person, and this was a real thing.
This coming week will be both Alison’s birthday and Mother’s Day.
And the anniversary of her death is coming up as well.
Every May I struggle with the void that she left after she died.
As hard as that is, it’s even harder for the kid, who – year-after-year – feels the loss a touch more acutely than the previous year.
Moreover, I worry that she’ll just be a distant idea to him, like Mary.
Like, I picture her in my head like the picture above while I think that my son pictures her like the blurry main picture of this entry.
It’s her but it’s…blurry.
Then again, it’s always good to be remembered in some positive way.
Whether that be in a children’s rhyme or a blog that almost no one reads.
I’ll probably write more later, but I just wanted you to know that the Lo household was thinking about her this May, like we do every May.
And like I always do.
Him: Papa! Did you know that there’s a country called Burkina Faso? Isn’t that a cool name?
Me: It is! Did you know that mommy used to go there all the time?
Him: She did? Why?
Me: She worked for a place called Helen Keller and was always trying to help people. That’s one of the things that I always loved about her. She was always trying to help people – she was such a good person, kiddo. Maybe, when you grow up, you can help people like she did.
Him: I will!
Me: (nodding) She’d love that. She would have loved that. And you.
Location: home, worried about the weekend
Mood: concerned
Music: A few years had gone and come around (Spotify)
Like this post? Tell someone about it by clicking a button below.
