What follows emerged from a writing prompt I was given in spiritual direction yesterday. I had no idea it would make its way off the pages of my black and white composition notebook when I started writing. The prompt: Who was the Jane you cherished?
The Jane that I cherished was the Jane who watched with wonder at my various metamorphoses and their stages. The Jane that I cherished was the Jane whose metamorphoses I watched with wonder.
The Jane that I cherished was feisty, sometimes argumentative, always inquisitive. Challenging, open-minded beneath the appearance of set ways and strong opinions.
The Jane that I cherish was astonishingly enterprising. There was a person who could truly make something from nothing.
Fiercely protective of her brood, she also knew when they needed a swat in the nose and a push out of the nest.
The Jane that I cherish loved G8d and our shared ways of finding and communing with G8d.
The Jane that I cherish is so full of LOVE that came pouring forth from her eyes like sunbeams through stained glass, the twinkle of a kaleidoscope.
The Jane that I love was surrounded by books, by art, by people disguised as books and art.
The Jane that I cherish was generous in all Worlds.
The Jane that I cherish let me sit with her and hold her hand in the final days of her final metamorphosis.
- In loving memory of Jane Trigère (חנה בת שלומו)
1948-2018