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The Castle No More

Just a few short hours ago, I sat among four strangers in the office of a lawyer I did not know and signed papers that relinquished my ownership of and rights to The Castle.

In the summer of 2006, she taught me that courage alone was a mere abstraction, but when coupled with the convictions to act upon those thoughts, mountains could move and magick would happen.  And they did.  That is when I took title to Cherry Cottage and she became The Castle.

Together, we experienced achievements and defeats; disappointments and blessings. We shared joy and heartache; beginnings and endings; crippling loneliness and peaceful, solitary contentment.  It is where I grew wiser and older and where she taught me independence, perseverance, resilience, character, and most of all, the rewards found in rejecting those haunting voices of fear, which speak to us in discouraging whispers whenever we contemplate change.  

She has been both a blessing and a burden, but nonetheless, her time to leave my possession has arrived, and although it is nostalgically bittersweet, I am  accepting of this transition and I embrace the memories that will live in my heart for all my days.

With the learned courage of my convictions, a new chapter begins – again – with love, light, and an abundance of positive energy.

Goodnight and Godspeed to both of us.

Falling in Love with a Man of the Sea

Below is a telegram that my father sent to my mother some seventy years ago.

“Dear Toots, just a few lines, but don’t know if it will go ashore or not, as this place is only a port of call. I don’t know where we are going from here, but I don’t think it will be a long trip, so I hope to see you soon.”

 ~ Simon J. de Jong (Somewhere in England, January 28, 1945) 

I, like she, fell in love with a man of the sea. It was through reading his correspondence to her that I have become able to identify the characteristics of these men, and possibly better understand us, the women who love them. His letters to her have shown me that love is eternal and cannot be limited or confined to a specific time in history. This is my story and I believe it was my mother’s also. Continue reading “Falling in Love with a Man of the Sea” →