They were more stoic than I had expected, not willing to divulge their reverie. I read that a good way to say goodbye to an old house is to take a little something of it with you.
A Eulogy for Kenmore Deidra Goulding Kenmore Residence Director In the ways of matter, Kenmore sprung from the earth as trees and iron ore and particles of silica, limestone, clay, the building blocks of what we call home, all houses carved from bedrock reality and refashioned into that most precious commodity, shelter. In the early years of the newly minted Immaculate Heart Community, I imagine moving to Kenmore like booking a ticket in steerage, that place in a ship designed to safely carry as many people as possible to port, and carry them to port Kenmore did, more than 120 souls ferried to infinity and all points beyond. There is still one CNA on staff who remembers when all apartments housed IHMs, some doubled-up. Those days are mere, fleeting reflections in the hallway glass right around dusk when the evening stars emerge from the darkened sky to momentarily cast a shine on a past you can see when you’re not looking for it.
None of them would bite, determined to disembark unencumbered, maintaining a steely gaze toward the new port. Not looking back at the vessel that carried so much meaning and memory. Some day Kenmore will follow all of them, aided by weather, wear and tear or a wrecking ball, follow them back into the bits and pieces of cosmos they and it have always been, where they will spend eternity, all reconstituting over and over until the glorious return to the source of all things, souls free to revisit all the points of light and substance along the way.
Catherine waving goodbye
The bon-voyaging IHMs took a turn through all the decks last week, the rooftop where we watched the 2017 summer solar eclipse, just partial from LA, and then down to lower floors to view the art and possibly retrieve a memory or two, landing ultimately in the chapel. 6
IMMACULATE HEART COMMUNITY
