This bowl reminds me of Norma Harrington, a friend who passed away a few years ago. Norma wasn't small and delicate like the bowl. She was a big-boned hearty woman with loud opinions and a loud laugh. But there was a delicate aspect to her and an appreciation for beauty. She was a wonderful writer. She had just finished writing a small book about the death of her husband, Art, when she died, quite suddenly and unexpectedly. Art died a slow painful death, of leukemia. I never met him, but I got to know him through her book. It was a little jewel of a book, fragile and tender, an offering of love, just like this bowl. She was writing it to pass on to her children, but we members of her writing group got to read it first as it came together in bits and pieces.
After I lost a beloved friend, Norma said to me, "But you know you've been cared for, don't you? And once you know that, it changes everything. To be seen for who you are and loved unconditionally, flaws and all, is such a precious gift. No one can take that away from you."
She also said that gratitude was one of the most underrated qualities in life. "Gratitude," she said, "is prayer."
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