NaFaCaMo 17

respite

I flew up to Seattle and then got on a ferry to go visit one of my favorite people — the extraordinary poet Heather McHugh. I haven’t seen her since well before the pandemic and just needed to. Those of you who have been readers here for a while might remember that many years ago, I was awarded a week-long respite vacation from an organization called Caregifted. Heather won a MacArthur Genius award and used the money that she was awarded to fund respite breaks for family members who’d been caring for a child or family member with disabilities for at least ten years. My week was the first away from Sophie in over nineteen years, and it changed my life. The organization is no longer running, but my friendship with Heather is enduring. She gave me hope that life was one of possibilities, that such a thing could happen again. I also got some rest.

I’m gone for three blessed days, and I’m trying very hard to take these trips periodically — at least once, every few months. I’ll see Heather tomorrow and can’t wait to give her a hug. She gave me rest and gives me peace.

A Night in a World

I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t stay home
where the big dipper rises from, time
and again: one mountain ash.

And I wouldn’t have thought without travelling out
how huge that dipper was,
how small that tree.

Heather McHugh, from Hinge & Sign: Poems, 1968-1993 (Wesleyan University Press, 1994)