Showing posts with label Bretagne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bretagne. Show all posts

18 March 2008

grandir, c'est mourir un peu...

Comme à chaque fois que je « dois » prendre une décision importante, j’y pense pendant longtemps, je tergiverse, je tourne et retourne la situation dans tous les sens, « est-ce vraiment ce que je veux, ce dont j’ai besoin…. » Et puis un beau jour, tout est limpide, simple et les étapes de préparation s’enchaînent sans heurt. Alors quand j’ai pensé pour la première fois à venir à Port-Blanc, et que je “savais” que je devais faire seule ce retour aux sources, ça a rendu la situation un peu plus compliquée, mais finalement sans grande conséquence…


Si au moment de la mort de Bonne-mam’ j’ai eu de nombreux « c’est la dernière fois… », cette fois ça a été beaucoup de « j’ai démarré ma route, j’y suis presque… ». Les larmes ont coulé alors que le train partait de London Waterloo, que le Ferry quittait le quai à Portsmouth, que je démarrait la voiture de loc’ à St Malo, que je passais le passage à niveau à la sortie de Guingamp, le panneau de Penvénan sur la route de Tréguier, puis dès la première inspiration à l’entrée dans la cuisine… Cette odeur, cette odeur… c’est la mer, l’humidité, les petits-déjeuners si tardifs que les grands préparent déjà le repas de « midi », le feu de bois, la terre, le vélo rouillé, le renfermé, le pain grillé du matin, le soleil qui souhaite la bienvenue à une nouvelle journée, la marée, le Chouen au fond du jardin, la vase, les crevettes, la pêche aux lançons à la pleine lune et grande marée, le poisson, les bonbons du fond de l’armoire et ceux qui remplissent la soupière, les bottes qui s’alignent sous la fenêtre, les bonjours à la cantonade… cette odeur, c’est tout ça à la fois, et plus encore !

A Dieu Vat, c’est le nom de la maison, c’est « chez moi ». C’est un retour aux sources familiales bien sûr mais surtout, surtout, un retour à l’intérieur de moi-même. Comme si chaque petite (ou grande) action faite dans ce lieu et ses alentours – être assise sur un banc passé le sillon de l’île aux femmes pour profiter du coucher de soleil, me cuisiner un maquereau, une promenade sur les rochers de Trestel à marée descendante, un retour au Gouffre même à marée descendante et par vent d’ouest (je savais que ça ne « sauterait » pas), un aller/retour tout au bout du sillon de Talbert, une excursion à Ploumanac’h – est une nouvelle porte ouverte dans mon chez moi intérieur, une autorisation à être, à sentir, à écouter, à entendre, à découvrir, à connaître, à aimer, à vivre… Paradoxalement, quand une porte est ouverte, il n’a plus moyen de faire marche arrière et mon corps le sent et le sait. Une petite part d’innocence s’envole et rapidement n’est plus. Et les larmes coulent. Et chaque larme versée est une petite mortde ce qui fut mais n’est plus, car j’accepte de grandir, de prendre la place qui est la mienne dans cette vie qui se dessine tous les jours avec un peu plus de clarté. Oh c’est sûr, il y a toujours une voix qui fait tout pour m’empêcher de grandir et elle a bien failli réussir, « n’y vas pas seule, les soirées vont être longues et un peu lugubre dans cette grande maison que tu as toujours connue pleine, en été… ». J’ai fini par succomber à cette voix et soumis l’invitation à deux amis, l’un après l’autre, mais elle n’a pas eu gain de cause, mes amis ne pouvaient venir !

Il devait être écrit quelque part dans l’univers que je devais faire ce pèlerinage seule… L’heure de laisser une partie de mon histoire derrière moi avait sans doute sonné !

12 December 2007

so many gifts

I'm afraid there's not much more than my sorrow and mourning at the moment in the words I want to lay on the screen... you'll have to forgive me - or come back in a few days, a few weeks or a few months... I have no idea how long it will last!

Bonne mam' has given us many gifts and coming to brittany just a few days before the winter solstice, when the world stop for a few days before rising toward spring again, is certainly one of them; after a 6hours drive, we were greeted in the middle of the night by a sky bathed with stars with no moon, and that is certainly one of them; a sharp and clear, sunny day without a single pinch of wind is certainly one of them...


But her most wonderful gift has been - for me at least - to depart from this world as we had planned to meet (my parents and siblings) to celebrate my sister's 40th birthday. It was the first time we were to gather all together in more than 2years... what a way to say a common farewell before the funeral?

I have spent 5 days within the family core and this has been a real gift for me too. Being voluntarily expatriated, I have touched the importance of the close ties that unite me to my brothers and sisters and their spouses, to my parents and to my nieces and nephews, to my uncles and aunts and some of my cousins... The sharing has been intense...

I have come back home to London a slightly different person, as I have experienced (for the first time?) that I have my place in the family circle. I have sensed and accepted that others can love me and I have allowed (for the first time?) this love to penetrate me... sweet pain there...

I'm now back in london after many miles, many tears, smiles and laughs, many hugs given and received, many looks shared, many words spoken and heards, many thank yous... and this all feel as only the beginning, with more tears to come, more smiles and laughs to come, more hugs to come, more shared looks and words to come, more thank yous to come...

04 September 2007

My mum's dad, bon-papa was the name we used to call him and we use to talk about him, passed away 10 years ago yesterday.

Not difficult to remember as he died 3 days after Diana, Princess of Wales. I'd been in London for a few months and the whole town, the whole nation poured into the capital to bring flowers and grieve her. My very good friend M. had come to visit me that week and I left her alone in London for 24h to go to his funeral in the surburb of Paris.

I remember how I felt teribly guilty to leave her behind.

He was to be buried in Brittany, in a small and lovely cemetery overlooking the bay. He was to be looking at the sea, the Love of his life. The whole family drove the 450 km to Brittany. I didn't so that I could get back to London and my friend.

I remember how I felt terribly guilty to leave him behind.

It took nearly a year before I saw his tomb. Bonne-maman did not want any polished marble stone or anything ready made of the sort. It had to blend with the Earth. It took months before the time and efforts of herself and her children (she's had nine of them...) were rewarded with a gigantic menhir-like stone that sits well with the surroundings. His name and dates of birth and death were simply carved onto the stone without colouring of any sort so that you actually need to look close to find it.

I remember him as a child sailing on his boat or going out to fish shrimps and crabs as the tide is coming in. I remember him polishing, painting, diy-ing this sailing boat A Dieu Vat, possibly the most valuable thing he had. I remember him bent over (and thinking about it now, probably conversing with) his raws of rose trees. I remember him at my parents in the countryside going for walks hours on end. I remember him changing the sheet once a week on his old and cherished barometer. I remember him one new year's eve smiling at me as I sipped a wonderful old-fashionly cooked hot chocolate.

I remember his last few years as he lost his short term memory, as he would ask the same questions again and again without tiring. I remember as he slowly fell on the side of overwhelming anxiety and how that could take him to bursts of anger or rage. I remember visiting him in a highly medicalised nursing home after he'd given up with life - his breathing sounded like something was caught and vibrating into the pipes of the kitchen sink. I remember how I was left by myself with him for just a few minutes and how much I wanted to tell him I loved him. I remember how my throat remained tight shut, my hands in my pockets and my eyes dry when my heart was weeping.

Today and for the last few months, bonne-maman has been declining with no particular disease. There have been times when we thought she'd had enough and was about to join him in the other world. It's been very important for me to listen to my needs, go and see her when I felt like it, spend time with her even without words exchanged. I think that the time of words has passed for us but I want to be there to simply hold her hand in mine. I feel that this is a time of closure, of goodbyes, of putting things to rest, of forgiveness towards her and towards myself. I feel that this is a time of healing that goes far beyond her and me.

If I regret the lost time with bon-papa, I am blessed with the time given with bonne-maman. I feel that when she goes I will not be feeling guilty. Hopefully I'll see her in a few days.

13 March 2007

Bretagne en hiver

Le vent, la pluie
Que c'est joli !
Le vent, la pluie
Qu'est-ce que ça me dit ?

La mer en hiver
Ses moutons déchaînés
Ce vent si fier
Qu'il faut s'incliner.

Les arbres en sont déracinés
Les toits tout retournés
Les rues toutes inondées
Et nous dans tout ça ?

On a peur d'être emportées
On vit avec la mort
Attentives
Comme un pilote dans son mirador.

Dire que les gens sont furieux
Parce que les stations sont fermées
Ici pas de touristes
on est seules et appréciées.

clairem --- 15 Fév 1990