Laraine "Rain" (Pacelli) Desmond passed from this life to the next after a sudden, brief illness.

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

- Wendell Berry; 2012

She was a daughter, sister, cousin, aunt, mother, grandmother, friend, writer, poet, artist, gardener, care-giver, trustworthy colleague, mentor and all around good one to have on your side. She is loved deeply by all of us. We will miss you, Madre. Not for your now-conspicuous absence, because we knew that would come eventually; but because we knew you in the fullness of life. Because we once knew the sounds of your voice and the looks of your face. Because we had a brief time together, on this earth, to contemplate and strive, together, towards better wisdoms that should prevail in a world so often profoundly devoid of these stuffs of real and true and just life. Know too, in that same light, we who have known you are now, somehow, become you. We who received your gifts are now those tasked to carry those hundreds and thousands of seeds and pearls into the future. As the Abenaki say, no one who dies is ever gone, so long as we who live on remember.

"She's got everything she needs. She's an Artist. She don't look back." B. Dylan; She Belongs To Me; 1965

As her nickname, Rain, implies she was a force of nature. Hers were the gifts of creation, be it life, work, art, words, thought, love, music and laughter. Although, just like the real rains, her attentions could be viewed as sometimes excessive (perhaps even a little unwanted), the purity and goodness of her intentions were never in doubt. And, just like the real rains, they always brought nourishment and renewal and change. Never being one to waste a thought or breath on someone who didn't need it or that she did not love, trust, honor or respect.

"And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows), you will be content that you have known me. You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And, you will sometimes open your window for that pleasure... and your friends will be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky! Then you will say to them, 'Yes, the stars always make me laugh!' And they will think you are crazy."

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

We, who are left behind, will remember you, myself most of all. We know you are with us, just as much as you know our hearts are with you.

Little piece a cornbread layin' on'a shelf, uh-huh.

Little piece a cornbread layin' on'a shelf, uh-huuh.

Little piece a cornbread layin' on'a shelf, if ya want anymore y'can sing it y'self, uh-huh.

B. Dylan; Frog Went Aa-Courtin'; 1992

For those wishing to do so, please support the field my mother worked so long and hard for; Human Services and Community Mental Health. She was, after all, the Saratoga County Citizen's Committee for Mental Health Citizen of the Year. You may do so by donating to Transitional Services Association, Inc.; www.tsa-inc.org/get-involved/ in the name of Laraine R. Desmond. God Bless!