Chrysalis Becomes A Butterfly
For the last several months, we have missed Meredith Mileti at our Wednesday Group meetings. She was unable to come because of her frequent commute from Pittsburgh to Florida to help nurse her dad: one week sitting beside her father in Boca Raton, next week standing by in her Pittsburgh home ready to get on a plane. Sadly, her dad, Robert Mileti passed away peacefully on May 29, 2013. He was 81 years old. Meredith was by his side just as she had been throughout this journey, difficult for both of them.
Even at this trying time, Meredith kept her promise of writing a post for our website. (See “Go Dad Go” on Writing & Meditation page)
Death of a parent is a time of deep sorrow. No matter how old our parent is or how old we are, their demise breaks us open. The lava of emotions erupts, feelings bubble forth, and we don’t know what to do with them. Meredith externalized her feelings and thoughts by penning them down in her piece “Go Dad Go.” While Mr. Mileti inhaled and exhaled his last breaths, mindfulness kept his daughter linked to him. She felt connected to the memories of their times together. Her intense emotion became her writing tool.
Meredith’s experiences of her life with her father, his sickness and death will remain alive in her mind forever. His passing away will hurt. But it will also help her heal and grow. In a few months Meredith will be on the other side of the river.
Nothing remains the same forever. Everything changes. The flow of energy keeps evolving, transforming. Chrysalis bursts open to become a butterfly.
Meredith is the author of Aftertaste: A Novel in Five Courses. She lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and a Bulldog named Grady. She is a graduate of Hamilton College and the University of Pittsburgh where she earned a Ph.D. in Developmental and Educational Psychology and subsequently served on the faculty. Since taking her first home economics course in junior high, Meredith has loved cooking for her family and friends. She is an adventurous and eclectic diner, and appreciates any well-cooked meal, whether from a seaside lobster shack in Bar Harbor, Maine, a friggitorie in Naples, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris or an undiscovered little gem in her Pittsburgh neighborhood. Aftertaste is her first novel.
Currently Meredith is writing her second novel, Bloom. Her recent experience is certainly going to enrich her writing style. Her dad’s transformation is bound to inject new beauty into her voice.