About Dad’s American Beauty

This blog is a reflection on my parents’ interracial marriage that spanned 60 years. Both of them recently passed, and this is my way of processing through the recent loss, paying homage, if you will, and crystalizing the lessons I have learned from their lives. I am putting some familiar material through the grist mill in my approach to some of the recent nitty gritty themes of love, loyalty, mental illness, death, joy, spirituality and the like.

Intermissions on personal impressions of art, perfume, and other lighthearted topics of beauty will intersperse the writings on death and schizophrenia. As it should be.

Thanks for taking the time to read, feedback is welcome. All writings and images, unless otherwise credited are by me. If you would like to share, kindly feel free to link to this blog.

Update 11/18/12: I could not have known what an amazing instrument of healing this blog would become for me when I tentatively launched it in October. I was processing the deaths of my parents, and now my sister has passed. Having this writing habit in the middle of this grief has kept me in the world, so to speak, when there is a definite inclination to retreat into hibernation. It makes me think of Natalie Goldberg, how she talks about using her writing as her spiritual practice. I think I get what she means. This is good, and so another dimension of this blog. I have also begun to get acquainted with the blogging community which is wonderful, people dealing with grief and loss, sharing their artwork, their love of perfume, books and personal wellness goals.

Another thing has happened in the past few days in that I am piecing together puzzles of my family’s lives and dynamics. Not the least I am seeing now, from hindsight, the impacts of mental illness on the individuals as well as the family. I will be exploring this going forward. I think that talking about mental illness is a necessary step in dissolving the very real stigma that still exists.

I have added categories, Art as Medicine, all about my own artwork or art encounters as agents of healing, Death and Spiritual Life, as they are so intertwined, Schizophrenia, a hard nut to crack, (no pun intended!) and Intermissions on perfume, shoes and books, material things in life that bring me joy.

Warm regards,
Renee

reneetamara@mac.com