Being Moved

Being Moved ©

By

Michael Casey

Let me try again,I was about write sorry I mean talk to you about Moving then I spotted a piece from was it 6 or 7 years ago so I decided to write something else. This is it. Being Moved. What is the difference you may ask, let me get myself a coffee before I begin. Well I didn’t have enough water in the kettle so I’ll have a half a mug before I start. Then a full mug wen the kettle boils again. A kettle of water is such a simple thing, and when its hot it whistles. Then you have tea or coffee and hospitality and love begins.

At one point in the Casey home we had a giant silver kettle, it must have held a gallon. Enough to make the tea after dinner and then enough water to do the washing up as well. Nobody had central heating in them days with loads of hot water in the tap. The immersion heater was only used once a week for baths. So on a daily basis a large kettle was all that was needed. We tended to wash in the old Belfast sink in the kitchen and have a bath at the weekend,or so it seemed. Normal for everybody in the 60s and early 70s.

Mum use to make us go upstairs to see if dad was ok in the bath, it was a ritual, thinking about it now I’m smiling and moved because it reminds me of my dad, my best friend. We used to hang the bath towel on the upstairs banister too, so many innocent memories that move me.

I can remember the first time dad ever had a shower, we only had a bath at home, it was in 1995 in Ireland. We were on the Grand Tour, which was the final tour in fact. We were visiting all the Casey Clan in County Kerry, and it is a Clan, I have 40 first cousins alone. So we were in the rented cottage. Dad tried the shower once we explained the controls to him. For him it was the greatest invention ever. I can hear his voice saying just how great it was, a simple innocent pleasure a hot shower. It makes me smile now. I can remember him coming home from the steelworks everyday and soaking his feet, sometimes while he had his dinner and watched the news on tv as the kitchen was too cold. He really did work too hard for us. He is the standard I aim for with my own kids, to love my kids as much as I was loved by my own dad. I hope everybody the world over, rich and poor do the same.

We never said I love you to each other, we did not need to. The Parable of the Sower comes to mind, Faith and Love can be very shallow it has to be watered. Sometimes you need family love to protect yourself from the sorrows of the world. But that’s a long long story.

It’s connections that have the power over us, the power of love. Those sunglasses may be rubbish but your sister gave them to you so they are more valuable now, especially since she died, and you felt so guilty because you weren’t there to say goodbye. You wear them when you go onstage to perform to read your poetry, or to sing your songs.

Or just when your are 200metres high above the building site controlling the crane, thanks sister, I couldn’t work with the sun in my eyes without those shades. Then you drop them on the long climb down to the ground, so you are in tears. Your boss gives you his 500dollars designer pair, but you still feel so sad. But he knows the story so he rings a friend in the Caribbean, and gets him to find the exact same pair on Dugdale Street. They are shipped overnight to the building site. 10 dollar shades, cost 500dollars for the express shipping. The next day he hands you the shades, because you are worth it. You thought he was a SOB but now you are touched really touched. He tells you to keep his 500 dollar shades, what he does not tell you is that he got 3 extra pairs just in case you lose them. Crane drivers are like gods, and he knows he needs you. Then he can buy another Caribbean island for himself, once the project is built.

I know you all have things that remind you of your mum or sister, or your lover. Stupid things, nice things, horrible things, but they are things we all treasure because they touch us, because there is love attached to them. Stop right now, pick up a drink of your choice and salute your favourite thing, because really you will be saluting your favourite person. The love behind the thing. You may even be looking in a mirror, your husband bought that for you so you could try on all your favourite clothes which he bought for you. Or in my case at least I bought the mirror, a 1.5 metre square one. Perfect for Selfies, even if the husband is far from perfect.