Paula Wychopen, a seeker of beauty in the everyday, is a writer, mother, widow, and former caregiver for her chronically ill husband, Forrest. The eighteen years she cared for her husband at home were the most difficult and blessed years of her life. Their four children are her most treasured gifts, and she writes to leave a legacy for her children and grandchildren.
“Rabbit trails”,
with their innocuous name,
are in reality,
dangerous mine fields.
What starts off as a silly nod
to old jokes,
commercial jingles,
and a country song
remembered
in a random moment
in an ordinary day,
launches us
on that innocent journey,
along one particular rabbit trail.
Hopping merrily along,
without thought
of the various pitfalls
and snares which lie ahead of us,
we suddenly
and surprisingly
find ourselves
in the middle
of that giant forest of grief,
entangled in the snare, yelling,
“Pull up, pull up, abort!
Abort!”
The two of us using humor
to deflect the massive feelings
which neither of us
had prepared our hearts for.
And that’s what happens when
you decide to open up
the music video, “Country Roads”,
sung by all those country greats
past and present,
and end up listening to
“Stand High on That Mountain”
by Vince Gill.
Finding yourself sinking into love lost,
once more…
