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Stop me if you’ve heard this…
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Remember that old riddle people used to say: “If a tree falls in a forest and nobody hears it, does it really make a noise?”
Well, of course, I don’t know about that.
But I’ll tell you what I do know about things that make a noise:
Max’s giggle as a toddler, so purely, strongly mirthful that people in space must have laughed
Looking at my husband that time when I’d come out of minor surgery to see his funny face and worried eyes
Baby Julian’s take-in-everything gaze at the world as he examined it over my shoulder
All the puppies and all the dogs. Okay, the kitties, too. The lizards, the rats, the snakes, the birds and especially Pretty Boy.
The utter abandon with which my sometimes repressed mother threw back her head and guffawed from time to time
My dad’s smile and the way his voice sounded when he played guitar and sang old folk songs
Kathleen’s silly phone messages while we waited with baited breath for my first baby to be born, nineteen days late
My Aunt and I visiting art and going to a play and laughing and crying over good times and bad, exchanging recipes, talking about family and camping trips
My friend Kathe, my survivor, my true sister. Everything. Everything made a noise.
To all my students and all my teachers, who were often one and the same
To all my family and all my friends, to everyone who held me and loved me and kept me in their heart even when we forgot to call each other back.
To Irene and EE
All the crazy theater fun, the disappointments, the celebrations, all the effort, all the reward.
Stop me if you’ve heard this:
All of it makes a noise and all of the noise is:
Thanks!

Comments

But I’ll tell you what I do know about things that make a noise:
“Max’s giggle as a toddler, so purely, strongly mirthful that people in space must have laughed.” Wonderful vivacious segue away from the lonely tree. Lovely phrase: “…take-in-everything gaze…” You remind us well how contagious joy can be: ” The utter abandon with which my sometimes-repressed mother threw back her head and guffawed from time to time.” We feel the exuberance here, accented by the previous description/listings of all the joyful sounds: “My friend Kathe, my survivor, my true sister. Everything. Everything made a noise.”
“Stop me if you’ve heard this:” Extremely effective line, because at this point, as you take us along in this copious merriment, the last thing we want to do is to stop you! In fact, we want more! Lovely, uplifting piece! Thanks back at ya. 🙂

I love this list. How the “noise” is more than sound (the husband’s eyes, the silly phone messages), how it encompasses all the senses.

Thank you so much, both of you for reading this and ‘getting it’. Again, thanks.

I loved reading this essay, or maybe it was really a list of things that bring you joy. I can see you standing in one place with all the memories floating around you. Turn one way and you see your mom’s laugh, another way has the kids, turn again and there are the animals of your world. It brought a moving scene alive in my mind, as I was reading your words.

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