Seasons - The Circle Of Life

Seasons change from year to year

Through winters solace and Christmas cheer

Through spring and summer and fall and then...

The cycle of life starts all over again

The changes they seem so subtle to start

But as time passes by and natures art

Begins to show scars and the tales of times past

It is then we will know that true beauty will last

Thus, it's the same with our father and mother

As each year passes on from one to another

And time does its job, and reflects on each face

All the changes they've seen

Where they've been, every place

But it show's so much more, if only we'll look

Every line, every scar, are like words in a book

They tell stories of travels

Through their journey in life

Every wonderful moment of joy, every strife

But look even closer at every last line

Of the stories they tell of their travel through time

And the beauty that seems to have faded within

You will see that it's there from beginning to end

It is only concealed to those who are blind

Of the beauty created from traveling through time

But to those who are willing to look deep within

They will see that the beauty of youth never ends

It is only transformed with each passing season

Through the winter of life, there's a rhyme and a reason

For just as the trees shed their leaves in the fall

They've not lost their grace or their beauty at all

They are only preparing for a new cycle to start

When then once again they adorn natures art

And the outward beauty that once was so grand

Will again grace their branches, as proudly they stand

We too, as the trees, are being prepared

As through seasons we travel and with others we share

The journeys we've had, and the ones yet to come

Until one day we meet with the Father and Son

And as God reaches out his marvelous hand

Wipes the lines from our face and allows us to stand

And dance in the spring as once we had done

With a smile on His face as He tells us "well done"

The seasons change from year to year

Through winters solace and Christmas cheer

Through spring, and summer,and fall and then...

The cycle of life starts all over again

I wrote the above poem several years ago in honor of the memory of my grandparents and in honor of the life of my parents, whom I am blessed to still have with me. I have not read it in quite some time, but my mothers recent diagnosis of liver cancer reminded me of it and began me thinking of the journeys she has been on and the battles she has fought and won in her life. There have been many. Each time she stepped up to the plate and took the biggest swing she could and won the battle. She raised nine children and won. We all grew up to be well rounded responsible adults -that's not to say there were not some turbulent teenage years. Those of us who have been teenagers and raised teenagers can relate to both sides of that coin. But she did it and she did it well. She has battled diabetes most of her adult life and about five years ago slipped into a diabetic coma. She recovered but it affected her memory to some degree, but she fought back and won. She still tells the stories of her childhood that she loves to tell. Sometimes the details get intertwined, but we know the stories well, and we still love to hear them, no matter how she tells them. She began periodically having mini seizures shortly after recovering from the coma, and for a day or two after each seizure she can not speak or at least when she does it comes out all mixed up. But she fights back each time and wins. She had a mini stroke last year. She fought back and won. She has faced many battles. Bravely and with faith she fights. She is one tough lady. Now she faces perhaps the biggest fight of her life. I don't know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future. If at the end of this battle God decides to take her home, she will have left a legacy that will forever live. I will have learned many of life's lessons from her. I will have learned from her to live and love life. I will have learned from her to fight and never give up. If at the end of this battle God decides to take her home - she will have fought- and won. I love you mom.

It has been some time since I have last been on Hubpages. The months after posting the above poem was full of doctors visits with my mother and in spending as much time with her as I possibly could. The days turned to weeks and the weeks to months, and yet they all seem like a blur as they seemed to have flown by so very fast. My mother, true to her nature and character, fought this battle like every other. With determination and faith. However, the cancer finally took its toll on her body, though it could not touch her spirit. On November 10, 2012 her body lost its battle with this horrible disease. Her spirit though, went to be with God. Her legacy will forever live on in the nine children she raised, as well as the twenty seven grandchildren and six great grandchildren whose lives she touched. I miss her everyday and sometimes cry. I know that time will eventually ease those emotions, but I can't imagine that it will ever erase the longing to just see her, hear her or touch her one more time. So I carry on, living life the best I can so that someday I too can hear the words that I know she heard on November 10, 2012 at 2:03 pm. Well done Lois Jean Watts!! I miss you mom, but I am so proud of the life that you lived and the legacy you left behind. I will see you again one day, for you have taught me well.

A lot has happened since my last update. Yet another season has come and gone in my life. In June of 2014 my beloved father, the Patriarch of our family, was taken to the hospital with signs of a stroke. It was not a stroke. What it was however, would leave me with a sense of de je vu. I heard once again, that horrible word, cancer. My father was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer that had spread to his brain. After the initial shock, he too, true to his nature, chose to fight. He did, and just like with my mother, I was by his side every step of the way. We spent hours in the car driving to and from doctors appointments and chemotherapy and radiation treatments. We spent hours stopping at our favorite places to eat, until slowly, day by day, he would lose his will, and to some degree, his ability to eat.

He fought with dignity and with pride and after many treatments of chemotherapy and radiation, the tumor on his brain was gone. The tumor in his lung was decreased in size. We had hope. Cancer, however, as it often does, would sneak back up on him and take over his other lung. Sadly, in December of 2014, barely six months after his diagnosis, just like my mother, cancer made its final push and took my father from me and so many others who loved him dearly. I miss him every single day. I cherish the time that I had with him, and the many conversations that we were able to have in those final months as we spent hours together battling this awful disease. He remained cheerful and uplifting to those around him every step of the way. He left me a legacy to be proud of and to work hard to live up to. Just like my mother, I know and am comforted by the knowledge that, although he lost the battle of the flesh of this world, he was victorious in his spirit, and the two of them are reunited to carry on the love story that they spent more than fifty years cultivating here on this earth.

Their season has come and gone, but the story of their lives and the lessons they left behind for all those whose lives they touched along the way, set the stage and prepared the scenes for so many seasons yet to come. Their story lives on through me, as I move from this season to the next. And life goes on... and on... and on.

The Beginning ...