a quote fraught with meaning…

[katster]

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time

–T.S. Eliot, from Little Giddings

This one is going into the quotes file.

Anyway, consider this a thread for open musings. What’s on your mind, folks? Comment away, either here or on LJ.

I may have more to say tomorrow, despite the May death march.

Originally published at retstak.org. You can comment here or there.

Comments

Open mic night!

[keori.livejournal.com]

On the topic of exploring...I am currently exploring my own dysfunctional family and procedures therein. There has been another death in the extended family. The current controversy is whether etiquette allows for delaying notifying absolutely odious, putrid people of the death and funeral services to avoid unpleasant confrontation or whether blood ties dictate notification within 24-48 hours. I say that if you have to debate whether or not to tell the odious individual in question, best not to, and the immediate kin of the deceased have the right to make that judgment. My father disagrees with me.

It brings up the question of whether I contact people I haven't spoken to for 20 years, and risk details of my life getting back to those with no need-to-know, or whether I just send a card using a name they all knew me as, from a PO Box, with no traceable details. It brings up questions of how I will handle my own father's death when it comes, acting in accordance with his wishes while honoring the dignity of the bereaved. There really isn't any compromise there.

You can't choose your blood kin, but you can choose your family. Unfortunately that isn't quite working as well as I'd hoped in this case.

[mdlbear]

Relationships, emotions, and mental processes have been very much on my mind these days. There seem to have been some big changes in my emotional life over the last year, and I'm still trying to get a handle on them.