I know, the title made me throw up a little in my mouth too. But, I swallowed it back down and managed to write this.

A few years ago I visited family in rural Oklahoma. I mean like for real rural. My grandmother once had chickens in a cage and potatoes in the ground. That was before KFC and Walmart came to town though. As a child I ran feverishly from my grandparent’s 1930’s prefab home to my Uncle’s trailer, plotted on their land, for fear of wild Coyotes you could hear howling all around. As a preteen I made the drastic mistake of seeing Pet Sematary there with my cousins and haven’t been the same since. I’m still convinced the house rests on Indian burial ground.

On this occasion my Aunt, who had been ill throughout my life but always seemed o.k. to me, handed me a plaster square adorned with vines and a heart inside which read ‘A loving heart is the truest wisdom- Charles Dickens’. Not exactly my decorator taste, but it was sweet. What I didn’t know was what she meant was ‘I’m dying and I want you to have this’.

She’s gone now, and I have the plaque leaning against the wall by my bathtub, along with with a few of my toy friends. It’s where I go to chill. So far I have not had an altercation, confusion, sadness, joy, or hope that the quote does not, in it’s simplicity, apply.

For this Hanukkah week and upcoming Christmas, I wish everyone the very beautifying truth that…….