This time of year, I always think about my friend Marilyn.
Dec. 1 marked the fourth year of her passing. I was a companion to Marilyn at a nursing home in Michigan where I was a volunteer, and although I knew her for only three months, she earned a special place in my heart.
We were a lot alike. We were Aries, romantics and animal lovers. We were afraid of heights and water. We both detested the same store in our town, and we thought the local anchorman was a hottie.
I'd visit her two to three times a week. I'd hang up the latest drawings from her nieces' children and watch "Everybody Loves Raymond" while we chatted . But most times, we'd turn off the TV and I'd read to her ---- usually poetry.
She loved e.e. cummings, especially his romantic poems. As I read, she would sit peacefully, eyes closed, taking in every word. She looked most relaxed during these moments. It was her therapy, her comfort. It became mine, too.
After she died, I would read one of her favorite e.e. cummings poems, "i carry your heart with me," whenever I started to miss her. That poem helped me through my grief. Marilyn gave me the gift of friendship, and something else: a love of poetry.
Even now her influence continues to pop up in my life. It was because of Marilyn that I decided to become a volunteer for LifeVerse, a project led by the Greensboro Public Library. The program trains volunteers to run poetry workshops for seniors in local nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.
During the workshops, we read poetry and teach them to write their own poems. The poetry helps trigger memories about their own lives. To watch it happen is remarkable. I had students suddenly remember the words to hymns and nursery rhymes from more than 70 years ago or the color of a childhood home.
Every Thursday I got to know a wonderful group of people who shared pieces of their life with me. Amazing things happened. Memories resurfaced, emotions were shared, and we laughed -- a lot.
And they wrote poems -- beautiful poems.
They wrote about wanting to be birds and flying away and about fond childhood memories. They penned poems on loneliness, what they are grateful for and the gifts God has given them. We ended each class reading the poems they wrote. Each time I read a poem aloud, they lit up with pride.
Nothing prepared me for how powerful it would be. Oftentimes, the poems would ignite discussions about family, loss and health. They shared stories about God's helpin difficult situations -- illness, surgeries, even death. Though I sometimes had to fight back tears, those sessions were the most meaningful. They needed someone to talk to, and LifeVerse gave them that outlet.
Last week was our last session. I didn't want it to end; neither did they. We celebrated their journey by reading their poems. We sang hymns, and I read some favorite poems, including one for Marilyn, "i carry your heart with me." Each of them received a packet of the poems they wrote, which they held with pride.
I thought it would be sad, but as they shared what they learned and what the project meant to them, the only emotion was pure happiness. They were proud of themselves. I was proud of them.
Marilyn may be gone, but she left me with so much. She taught me the meaning of true companionship and the joy of giving that back to others. LifeVerse was my vehicle to give that gift to my beautiful group of poets. At the last class, they all expressed how grateful they were for us to take the time to spend with them.
But I'm the one who is grateful. I'm the one who feels lucky. I learned so much from them, most of all to value life and be thankful for all that you have -- and that you don't have to be a poet to write poetry. And if ever I lose my way, all I need to do is read one of their poems and be reminded of what's important.
Contact Carla Kucinski Seward at 373-7319 or carla@gotriad.com
