May 2025

Recent months for me have been full of emotions. Grief, joy, stress, happiness, pride; they have all shown their faces in large and small ways. Most recently, within the last 24 hours specifically, these emotions have been BIG. Our family, extended family and wonderful collection of life long friends gathered to celebrate the life of my sister. It was beautiful, sad, poignant, funny and she would have loved it. As my son said yesterday, “the takeaway is that we are truly lucky to be part of such an incredible family.”

This morning, the day after her service, I was full of reflection and memories. I felt the full meaning of the phrase “my heart is full” when thinking of my eight year old great niece on the altar reciting the Irish Blessing. Remembering literally made me clutch my heart (in a good way.) The Irish Blessing is now a trigger for me. 

I started thinking about other things that are emotional triggers for me. They are the things that open the door for emotions to show themselves.  I am lucky these triggers are not based in the negative. They are not rooted in harm or fear. They stem from love. 

Bagpipes are a trigger because they will always remind me of my father. If you see me weeping at a St. Patrick’s Day Parade it’s because I am thinking of my Irish dad. He was a sucker for a good parade

Night Swimming by REM is forever linked to the memory of my sister and the opening base line to The Talking heads’ Burning Down the House will always make me think of her husband, my brother-in-law. If you knew him you would know why he is such an unlikely fan but I am grateful that he introduced me to this art house band in the early 1980’s. Every time I hear it, I am ready. Ready to run, ready to accelerate, ready to play. Just ready. Both songs, triggers.

Lemon Sticks are a trigger. A cheerful, simple treat from my childhood growing up in Baltimore, a lemon stick is joy in your hand. If you are not from Baltimore, you probably don’t know what a lemon stick is. Slice the top off of a ripe lemon and insert a peppermint stick and use the peppermint stick as a straw. It’s so simple but so pretty and sweet. I’ll be sharing lemon sticks more often because I will be sharing joy. 

The Hymn, On Eagles Wings is a trigger. It’s a safe bet that I will be tearful as the lyrics of the refrain crescendo. “And He will raise you up on eagles’ wings, Bear you on the breath of dawn, Make you to shine like the sun, And hold you in the palm of His hand.” I am thinking of my mom.

My triggers make me feel. Sometimes the feelings are hard to bear but when I sit with them I feel whole. I love my triggers.

An Irish Blessing

May the road rise up to meet you, May the wind be always at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, And may the rain fall softly upon your fields, And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand.