Hotels for the Memorial Service

Blocks of rooms are being held at two hotels near Winchester for the convenience of people coming from out of town for Mary's memorial service. Please mention Mary's name or the Winchester Unitarian Society for the discount. Car pooling is strongly recommended since parking may be a real problem on the day of the service.

The Marriott Courtyard off Montvale Ave on the Stoneham Woburn line, right off I-93 ($109)

The Hilton Boston/Woburn ($99)

Memorial Web Page & Call for Photos

If you would like to share comments or recollections about Mary with others, the Strong Hancock Funeral Home in Damariscotta Maine has provided a lovely memorial page:

stronghancock.com

If you have any electronic pictures of Mary that we can add to a slide show during the memorial service reception, please email up to four pictures to:

photos@maryjharrington.com

Memorial Service

The memorial service for Mary will be held on Monday, November 8, 2010, at 11 AM at the Winchester Unitarian Society, 478 Main Street, Winchester MA 01890

Mary Jeanette Harrington 1952-2010

The Rev Mary J. Harrington died on October 26, 2010, at 6 AM, in her home in Sheepscot, Maine. This is the end of her lengthy and hard-fought battle with ALS, and also of this blog, which we'll leave up for a while.

There will be a memorial service celebrating Mary's life at the Winchester Unitarian church, Winchester, MA. We'll post the date and time here, and it will also be listed on the Winchester Church web page at winchesteruu.org.

- Marty, Julia & Sam

Loose Ends

Nothing ever really ends. I see this in the marsh, where things certainly change, but they don't stop. The colors provide a continuing lesson in how the color green, for example, can become greener, or greenish, or green-like, or sort of green, depending on the day, the season, and the light. Right now this is especially true of the browns: the umbers, khakis, caramels, and military camouflage abound. There is no one true brown when you look out the window. Instead there are many many many variations.

So what does this have to do with loose ends? In my life as a person, I have stretched myself towards certain goals, such as the kind of spouse, mother, sibling and friend I long to be for those people in my sphere. Once in a while, I have had that particular thrill of feeling I had gotten something just right, and perhaps I did. But it only lasts such a short time, then there's the next day, or month, etc. So I can never become a truly pure, purely good anything. There are always changing circumstances - cranky days, and loose ends. Nothing can get pinned down for long. Just like the browns outside don't stay any particular shade of brown for more than a week or two.

Which leads to the realization that even if you could try with all your might to hold on to one of those glorious connections, it just couldn't last. This makes leaving hard, wanting so much to find the moment when all is well in every part of my life, and with every person in it. Instead, I have to settle for knowing that at a certain point, things will simply stop where they do. And my ability to improve, repair, refine, or finish will have to be sufficient, and enough.

This is why I rest my eyes on the marsh. The slow, languorous, drawn-out days fill me with a little bit of peace and solace. Sometimes there's the excitement of a storm, or an astronomical tide - these really get my attention. Mostly, I attune myself with what is easy, swimming, or in flight, or the way the current carries the water in and out with such deftness. My hope is that I too will sail off on a such a gentle, peaceful current as my friends the geese and ducks do, leaving behind whatever loose ends my little ducky toes didn't have time to complete - but knowing that my people will come with me in my heart.