Grecu's Heartland Review
In "All's Well That Ends Well," William Shakespeare wrote: "The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together." As I read Dee Ann Grecu's stories in Inspiration From The Heartland, I kept thinking of Shakespeare's statement on life. Evidently Dee knows and understands just what the Bard meant. Her opening story is a total riot concerning a wild west Mole Man and the escapades caused by his method of exterminating moles around the house. You will laugh until you���never mind.
Then, as smooth as a summer sunset, Dee moves to the heartbreaking experience her brother faced when his then young daughter was murdered. Many life lessons are subtly taught as Dee weaves this saga of pain and growth into a few pages worth reading.
Her closing story is of the home going of her father in law, a good, but distant and plain- spoken man, whom, as many men of the era, lacked the ability to simply say, "I love you." Larry is listed as, stubborn, demanding, domineering, and always right. Many are the men who fit this description. They have no idea of the pain they cause and the enormous healing that would result were a simple, "I love you" be uttered. After the moving account of the at last bonding of Larry and his son Joe as Larry lay on his death bed, Dee eulogizes Larry with a poignant poem that will hide in the deep recesses of my mind and heart til the trumpet sounds. In Larry's person Dee said,
Do you know I loved you?
Though it was hard for me to say.
In life the words escaped me.
So, on my funeral day,
I'm speaking through another
Words I want you to hear:
I loved you,
Yes, I loved you,
And your heart to me was dear.Eloquence par excellence.
I often am called upon to celebrate the life of a person I have never met, know absolutely nothing about and the situation is further complicated due to animosity among the mourners that even the shadow of death cannot soften. I think the next time the mortician calls for this favor, I will simply call Dee Ann and say, "have at it girl of the silver pen."
In light of the fact that I have never stood at graveside and said, "Lazarus, come forth," I will study Dee Ann's technique for comforting the grieving hearts of people who weep.
Larry Lilly Copyright (C) 2007