I'll Be Seeing You

I keep thinking about Aunt Nell. To give you a taste of what she was like, here's my paraphrase of a (relatively mild, for her) story she told us the last time she came to visit:

I had a really unusual experience the other night. I had this vivid dream where I was standing at the foot of the cross, along with all the followers of Christ. We were crying as people came by and said cruel things and threw stones and so forth, and it was a very emotional experience. Then, all of a sudden, the cross began to rise up into the air. I looked up into the face of Christ, and all of a sudden it changed, and became the face of Arnold Schwarzenegger. And he said, "I'll be baa-aaack!" I woke up laughing.

Now you tell me a woman like this wouldn't think "one last guilt-free smoke" was funny. Honestly.

Also thinking about the lyrics of the song "I'll Be Seeing You," which as mentioned was sung at the funeral. It's a great song standard, at least in part because of what the lyrics do -- take a hackneyed phrase used in everyday life ("be seeing you!") and transform it into something far more meaningful. I thought about it the rest of the time I was in California, and it affected the way I took photos. Here are a few.

I'll be seeing you in all the old familiar places

That this heart of mine embraces all day through

In that small café, the park across the way

The children's carousel, the chestnut tree, the wishing well

I'll be seeing you in every lovely summer's day

In everything that's bright and gay, I'll always think of you that way

I'll find you in the morning sun, and when the night is new

I'll be looking at the moon
But I'll be seeing you