Last night, as the wind was howling and the storm was blowing in, I watched "The Wizard of Oz." I just love that movie and it doesn't make me teary at all. I was thinking about all the symbolism in the movie and trying to think of what Joseph Campbell would say about it.
I relate with hero's quest and all the trials Dorothy must pass in order to get back home to Kansas. For me, the first wicked witch she encounters is symbolic of the medical system that sometimes does more harm than good to our loved ones. My experience with the health care system was not unlike having a house fall on you. The second witch, for me, is a metaphor for this loss I have experienced. I am following this path, or road, on my way back to Kansas (the life I knew before my loved one's departure). In a way, the scarecrow, the tin man and the cowardly lion are parts of myself which I must nurture in order to regain my balance. This experience has taxed my brain, my heart and my courage. I'm so lucky to have a several "good witches" in my life that understand this journey well as they have traveled it many times.
At the end of the film Dorothy says, "If I ever go looking for my heart's desire, I won't go any further than my own back yard, and if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with." Knowing that death cannot take anything from me is a difficult lesson to accept. My heart's desire, my love, is deep within my heart, still. M.
Moving through my grief after four years can now handle some laughter and tears. I want and need fewer tears and more laughter.
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