From Edward Louis Levin

In 2012 I took a class  called Writing From the Senses. In the third session the instructor did some guided meditations that awakened body sensations. In this one she said “Feeling life inside your body, write about one person, all the details.” This is what I wrote.

The person is my dad. He died in June of 2008. I remember his confident, ringing, inquisitive kind voice. The smell of his special after shave when I was a kid. The sweet, plumby smell of his pipe tobacco when he tried that for a while in the ’50’s.

The feel of his solid body when I bounced off him when he was teaching my brother and I to box. He was so strong but he never used that to hurt or intimidate us. 

I remember all the pictures and videos from him at different times in his life that we collected for the memorial service. Now that I have some similar symptoms that he had from arthritis, and prostate, and his stroke and my speech, I feel his glowing presence coming forth from within me. He had such infectious fun loving energy, that came out in his smile and his body language. When I’m low I feel the big part of him that now lives within me pick me up. Nothing would get him down.  Nothing could slow him down. And now he won’t let me waste any of this precious life force in self pity.

From 2012 Writing From the Senses.Class #3 – 2/6/12. Third prompt.