Like Smoke Through a Keyhole

One of my favorite movies is Bucket List, with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. It's bittersweet, but with a message that life's to short to short your life. One of the lines in the movie is "Like smoke through a keyhole...." I'm not exactly sure what that means, though it referenced time passing by so quickly, but it seems to make perfect sense and it's got a lyrical quality when spoken.

That's kind of how my relationship with my folks has been the last ten years. Like smoke through a keyhole.... It started with one of those heated family arguments where neither side saw fit to compromise. After a bit, it was an uncomfortable distance, slowing leading to life just getting on down the road. A child, a family, a career, up and downs and adventures. And ten years gone by.

Now, my mom has lung cancer with some serious chemo & radiation in her future. She's just mean enough to beat it, but then again..... Sometimes I look at her and think about how amazingly stubborn she is only to realize that the same trait was passed on to me.

I'm not naive enough to think that there's a storybook ending in all of this. No emotional reconnection on grand scale. But, when the chance comes, I will tell her I appreciate many of things she did give and that we shouldn't go another ten years without talking.

Today's photo's are right after a massive snow storm. The clouds lifted right about sunset, making our little valley a beautiful winter landscape.