When I was in college, I took a literature course in the Afro-American Studies department. One of the books on our recommended list I never got around to reading but always remembered because the title was so poignant and haunting: “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston. This picture of Moy Moy brought it back to me in a rush and I thought as I looked at it this evening how fine a line it is between joy and tragedy, between a life of suffering and a vision of the divine. Believe it or not, Moy Moy is having a seizure in this photograph. What she feels while going through one we cannot know because she cannot tell us, but I look at her and I see a calm and peaceful face. Her eyes seem to look beyond what is in our view to something  deeper and further along.

Cathleen called tonight to talk to her and after she hung up, she sent me a quick email: “She’s our ‘Keeper of the Joy’, Mom!”