Death, Grief, Bereavement
Date Published: 1-6-2017
Publisher: Cygnet Publications, Cygnet Media Group Inc.
When her beloved soul friend husband, Gerald, passed away a few years ago, and her friends and sons moved to distant cities, she found herself alone for the first time in her life.
Gerald, a professional artist, had his studio in their home. Their home was always filled with family life, art, music, joy and playfulness in the garden.
After his passing, the silence was loud. The joy was gone — her paradise — a lost paradise.
She had two choices, either to fall apart or to get on with life. She chose the latter and traveled to find a home, a community — however - nowhere was home - since he left.
In writing Nowhere Is Home … Since You Left, Madeleine Zeldin shares her insights, emotions, and true life experiences as she journeys solo throughout the years following the sorrowful death of her soul mate, internationally renowned artist, Gerald Zeldin. She presents years of storytelling based on travel journals she wrote while traveling to countries such as Mexico, Philippines, Ecuador, France, Spain, and California, U.S.A. Zeldin also reveals the intensity of the pain and sorrow experienced in her grief, along with the fulfillment, satisfaction and logistics of international travel. In her travels she volunteered in the medical field and gave help where help was needed. She brings inspiration to those of her generation, the 60’s, who find themselves alone.
Through her evocative tales of adventure, Zeldin reveals this life-changing knowledge to the world!
But ultimately where is Home?
Excerpt:
lying in the hamaca one
morning, meditating in another sort of way … am contemplating my future travels
…
to the big cities in the mountains
… alone, because nadine has changed her mind about travel,
so i will be leaving this
paradise of a pueblo for just awhile …
my spell is broken as i
watch the young, not quite 3 yr old, son of the houseboy, playing in the garden
…
as he is running around the tiled
walkway, he suddenly trips over his oversized crocs and falls,
scraping his knees …
his young parents, chuckle and
look away …
as he looks for compassion, but
gets none … he monitors himself, then gets up and starts running again …
with a little limp this time …
i can just picture all of us
moms and grandmoms in North America, running over to the child …
but here you are left on
your own to grow up
with the bumps and the grinds …
and just as i open my book …
Our Last Dance … to begin preparing for my readings
in San Francisco and Los Angeles …
coming up in early april …
procrastinating as i have been
doing for the past few weeks …
i see the young son, mi hijo, as
his parents call him … my son … playing with a couple of sticks, in the garden,
rubbing them together as he has
often seen his papa do …
to start a fire …
but since he is unable to do so …
he breaks the stick into six smaller ones and starts to play with them …
until he notices me …
no hundreds of dollars of
plastic toys here …
he runs over, careful of his
crocs this time … with the look in his big brown eyes … giggling …
and i can see the bubble coming
from his brain …
saying … play with me …
so i decide to take time off
work, procrastinating again …
to teach him how to count … en
español and in english …
with the sticks …
stick after stick, he hands
me and repeats in español …
uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco,
seis … in his babytalk spanish …
then claps and claps for himself …
so proud that he did it …
but when i repeat the game in
english … he halts …
doesn’t understand what i am doing
…
so i think …
and decide to draw a little face
on my middle finger …
then this little person … the face
… becomes his new friend …
and says all the numbers in
english … one by one … with the six sticks …
mi hijo responds to this
with great giggles …
responds to this little friend …
says his numbers in english … well maybe spenglish … …
and again claps for himself …
but he wants more … but i
have to get back to work …
… ‘más tarde’ … i say … later …
so he runs off … but one minute
later, he returns …
‘no, más tarde’ … i say …
but he thinks one minute is … más
tarde …
i take him back to his mama
and papa …
… ‘necesita trabajar’ … i say … i need to work
…
so they take him away … and he
whimpers …
yearning to learn more …
so i ask the parents if he knows
his numbers …
‘oh no, mas pequeño’ … too young … they say …
so we play the game with the
sticks …
they hear their young son say his numbers …
their eyes light up with
pride … mi hijo is saying his numbers …
About the Author
Professionally, Ms. Zeldin has been engaged in nursing and teaching. She has successfully advocated for changes in the medical field, along with homebirth and Midwifery. In her travels to out of the way places, she has been a keen observer of people and distant cultures, often writing a 'sketch' of her experience.
Madeleine is an advocate of advocacy.
Madeleine believes we can all make a difference.
Throughout her adult life she has successfully advocated for change. When she felt change was needed, she rallied. She lobbied. She started a group or joined a group.
In the late '70's, when her town council was considering tearing down old heritage properties in the name of 'Progress', she helped start a group of interested citizens in order to save these heritage properties. 'Progress' was stopped and many heritage buildings were saved due to the group's diligence.
Again in the early '80's, Madeleine herself changed local hospital policy to allow midwives to accompany couples in the birthing room, after the hospital refused to allow her midwife to enter.
She belonged to a group of informed parents who advocated for changes in the policies for vaccinations.
Madeleine volunteered at the local Health Center and advocated for improved health care for refugees. Improvements were made.
She successfully advocated for her soul-friend, late husband Gerald's medical care throughout their six year battle with cancer. Many important changes were implemented in our medical system due to her persistence.
Madeleine has been ahead of her time in her generation. She had many professions throughout her life including social worker, teacher, registered nurse. She also joined a group of midwives and again successfully advocated for choices in childbirth.
However, she considers her most important achievement as being a mother and grandmother. She has instilled in her family a sense of love and empathy and has taught them to love the earth and its people.
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