Introducing Hope - Mary Szpara Style

 By Robin Weaver

A friend introduced me to Mary London Szpara, believing we’d have something in common because Mary is also a widow. That friend had no idea just how much we’d have in common, a “commonality” that far exceeds shared grief. Six years later, we’re still best buds.

When I saw the theme for this month’s blog—hope—Mary immediately came to mind. Not only does Mary personify everything hopeful, she wrote an amazing poem that became the cornerstone of her collection of monologues called The Loss World. Mary later created an amazing play from those pages, which united the cast and gave “hope” to those in attendance.

I’ve asked Mary to “guest,” this month, so I can share her poem, and her hope. Without further ado, here’s Mary:

Hope

By Mary London Szpara

There are four letter words being tossed about these days, most are not worth mentioning, but there is one that I live by:  it is simply “HOPE.”

Anyone who has weathered a mental or emotionally stressful, challenging storm, understands just how important these four letters are to survival.  When my husband Michael was looking into the abyss due to liver failure, we clung to hope to get us through each day.

It soon became our motto. Pushing negative thoughts and toxic people aside, we surrounded ourselves with the message, in a very physical way.  We would tell people who would visit us: “Everywhere you go, you will find Hope.”  And you still do.  Throughout the gardens, paths, trails, inside every room.  Pathway markers, stepping stones, statues, hanging banners, all proclaimed this marvelous word that helped us move forward one step at a time.   Kind of like “I’ll be back” for Arnold, it was woven into my tapestry, becoming more important than ever after my husband died.  You will find it in the pages of The Loss World and again in The Loss World Monologues.  Better than “OM”, more attuned to my mindset. Hope, like love, is eternal.

Hope.

Now that is the most amazing four-letter word!

 It brings an involuntary smile to my face,

Lifts the spirit and lightens the pressure in my chest.And provides a sense of true peace.
 Hope It comes from the oddest placesThe certain knowledge that all is well and God will take care of the minutia.

Hope

 A full moon, a rainbow, the sun breaking through the clouds. A single moment of peace . Clarity from a mind usually clouded by a toxic fog

Hope

Knowing that the people you know and even more:The people you don't know, are praying for God's grace to shine your way. Hope

Being able to truly trust the doctors making the most critical of all decisions - And following their lead so closely you dance together as if you are one.

HopeThe reason you can sleep at night, despite the fear.  Why each day is not sheer terror But a day closer to salvation. HopeGod's gift of light in the dark.