Lights

The Northern Lights forecast that I check periodically.

Late on the evening of March 29, 2017, somewhere around 11:00 pm, I was compelled to check a website that I check off and on, throughout the year. I am not sure why I was prompted to check this site on that night but I did.

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Fortress

Sometimes, God sees fit to place us, from birth, in the care of a mother who will spend the rest of her days mastering the skill of motherhood. These mothers, they never stop learning, all the while, they teach and perpetually apply a lifetime of lessons. Then, as life meanders speedily along, and it takes us wherever we may roam, these mothers, they are somehow always right where we need them to be. They are steady. They are strong. They are safe. They are immense, while remaining the softest place to land. They are bold. They are patient. They bite their tongues long enough for us to learn our own way. They have our backs just because we ask them to. They hurt for us more than we do. They worry for us more than we do. And as we travel through the ups and downs, they are always there for us, they are our fortress.

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A tribute to: Vivian C. (Lapointe) Kotowski

HOOKSETT — Vivian C. (Lapointe) Kotowski, 83, of Hooksett, died March 30, 2017 at Maple Leaf Health-Care Center in Manchester after a brief illness. She was born in Manchester on February 27, 1934 to Arthur and Gilberte (Cote) Lapointe. She lived in Manchester for many years before moving to Hooksett in 1977.

Vivian worked at a number of places over the years, most recently at Hannaford Supermarket in Hooksett.

She was a member of the Kiwanis Club of Hooksett and the NH Chapter of the Association of Retirees of Eversource and Northeast Utilities (ARENU).

The family includes her husband of 59 years, Frank R. Kotowski of Hooksett; three children, Lori Uliasz and her husband, Gregory, of Bedford, James Kotowski and his wife, Vicki Montgomery, of Floyds Knobs, IN and Susan Beal of Manchester; seven grandchildren who were her world, Meghan Uliasz and her fiancé, Tom Stackhouse, Greg Uliasz, Zack Uliasz, Stephen, Ryan and Erin Beal and Lydia Kotowski; a sister Gertrude Burke of Manchester; and nieces and nephews.

SERVICES: There are no calling hours. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Monday at 10 a.m. at Holy Rosary Church, 21 Main St., Hooksett. Committal prayers will follow in the chapel of the NH State Veterans Cemetery, 110 Daniel Webster Highway, Boscawen.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Hooksett Kiwanis Kids Closet, c/o Hooksett Kiwanis Foundation, P.O. Box 16443, Hooksett, NH 03106.

Lambert Funeral Home & Crematory, Manchester is assisting the family with arrangements. To leave a message of condolence, visit www. lambertfuneralhome.com.

Smaller World

Sometimes, actually, often times I stop and think about how much we impact other people’s lives. In this case I take my mind back in time to recall, and to feel again as I felt before. To capture thoughts, memories, and feelings from a distant life I lived.

Once upon a time we persevere through our daily lives to show up at some place of work. We have our lives, our families, our schedules, our stuff. Yet, we show up and do our jobs day after day. Each of those days we interact with others. Others who are not wholly different from ourselves. Others who bring their own version of diversity to the workplace each day.

Hour upon hour, shift by shift, week by week, we allow our lives to be impacted in some way by these others while we have the same effect on them. Some we know better, beyond the layers on the outside. Some we know only by what we see. Either way, there is impact on one another.

Jobs change. Careers run in all directions. And dreams take us on countless pursuits. Then maybe the little world we knew for all of those hours, shifts, weeks, and more; where any of us could have been dinner time conversational fodder at home for any one of our post-work meals; it all changes. What doesn’t change though, is the effect we had, felt, and shared.

We came together to get a job done while pursuing our own lives. We overlapped only as we allowed. And that was good. As it should be.

Then one who was near and dear for so many hours a week. One you shared work-space with for so many weeks over so many years. One is gone. Sadly, this one left this huge, intimidating world. Saddened even more deeply by this loss, this one who left us was as much a part of our closed in, working comfortably, space that we all helped create. This one punched their ticket everyday, as we all did, working toward a common goal along side each of us.

And then it hits you; hits you hard. Sitting here wishing there was one more chance to talk, to listen, to impact, to be. That small work world that we once shared has yet smaller become. Even though that work-time and work-setting had long since disappeared, the characters from that story still had the memories and friendships to share with one another on a whim. Now we have lost this one. The cast is smaller. Our little world is smaller. The huge world is now a smaller world. Today I’m deeply saddened to know that we lost this one.

You left your mark

Today’s your birthday but you’re not here

Thinking of you draws out lonely tears

 

You’ve been called home but we celebrate

No longer seen, but for the birth this date

 

What you did here matters more than now

Leaving your mark, teaching others how

 

The kid with the eyes that smiled always

Even when the toll’s taken in the last days

 

My heart sings in memory, our final embrace

Gently searching for the light in your face

 

Rest in peace my cousin as we carry on

One day ahead we shall all join together yon