Taking the celestial locomotive

Dear Ella,

Maya sent me a link to a great article by a guy called Roger Ebert  (USA film critic).  Its stuff he wrote about thoughts on dying...not a light read, but thought provoking stuff for people like me - who frequently (well constantly) wonder where you are and how the whole process of leaving us was for you.

Anyway - this was one of the bits I liked best - apparently said and written down by Vincent Van Gough many years ago.

Looking at the stars always makes me dream, as simply as I dream over the black dots representing towns and villages on a map.

Why, I ask myself, shouldn’t the shining dots of the sky be as accessible as the black dots on the map of France?

Just as we take a train to get to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to reach a star. We cannot get to a star while we are alive any more than we can take the train when we are dead. So to me it seems possible that cholera, tuberculosis and cancer are the celestial means of locomotion. Just as steamboats, buses and railways are the terrestrial means.

To die quietly of old age would be to go there on foot.

So for me and Maya - its kind of comforting to know you are with the stars (that you love so much) and took the train and didn't walk there slowly....

Lots of love
Mum
xx