Thursday, August 8, 2013

May the Circle be Unbroken

Early this week, our circle of three Lynde Elders was changed forever.  For my entire life, my brother Stan and my sister Chris have been shining stars who flanked me on either side.  I always felt safe and solid, knowing they were there, and I leaned on them many times.  We all knew there would come a time when one of us would leave this place and go to the Other Side.  But for more than sixty-five years, we stood as almost a singular entity.

Those of you who know all of us understand why we were the way we were.  Growing up in the remote reaches of eastern Montana, in the foothills and the heights of the Big Horn Mountains, we only had each other for long stretches of time.  That kind of history draws you close and binds you together in a way that few siblings ever experience.  And we loved our history. 

Somewhere between two and three o'clock on Tuesday morning, Stan departed.  Cancer showed all of us that we are not immortal in this existence, and he slipped from our hands as softly as silk.  He left a huge footprint on this earth and in our lives.  Nothing ever will be the same.  Of course, we are sad and a little lost.  But we also are lucky that we had all those years together.

Now there is a ripple in the atmosphere that surrounds me and my sister.  We are two instead of three.  And yet...the Circle is unbroken, held together with love and memory.