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3.20.2003
Lisa Kelly, 27; created stirring 'breezes'
Lisa Kelly's 6-year-old daughter will always know the story of rabbits.
The children's story, which Lisa wrote about a year ago, says that sometimes
rabbits leave behind friends. They join other rabbits in a place called
the Great Meadow, not seen but never far away, like a "cool breeze
upon your ears."
The breezes are symbols, living memories. Lisa, 27, left many behind.
There are the five tiny vases filled with red carnations on the vanity
in her Swansea home. Her mother sees them, then sees so much more.
"I can just picture her putting on her makeup, getting ready to
go out," says her mother, Barbara Nagle of Attleboro. "They
are still there in those little vases. They are beautiful, like she was."
Barbara can look back in time and see Lisa playing soccer and running
track at Attleboro High School, in the town where she grew up.
Then she can jump to today. There is the Chinese song that Lisa's daughter,
Zoe Jean, sings. She learned it at the Montessori Children's School in
Providence. Lisa, a single mom, worked hard to afford it.
"She did it all by herself. Nobody helped her pay for anything,"
Barbara says.
There are Lisa's teas with Zoe Jean on the East Side of Providence, or
the Thai food, or the rock 'n' eat atmosphere of Johnny Rockets restaurant.
And the many meals at Dave and Buster's. Barbara can't forget. She is
caring for one of the stuffed animals Lisa won there. She also takes care
of Lisa's many pets, including two cats, Lucky and Black Sabbath -- after
one of the first heavy-metal bands.
Yes, breezes are blowing. But the breezes, the memories of Lisa's life,
vary widely.
Some are tranquil, like yoga lessons Lisa taught at the Montessori Children's
School, at a North Attleboro school and was set to teach at a Warwick
karate school.
Some are adventurous, like last summer when Lisa took Zoe Jean to the
Ozzfest concert. Headlining the heavy-metal show was Ozzy Osbourne, once
the bane of moms everywhere until he converted to a reality TV dad.
Some are simply shared experience. Barbara is grateful for the time Lisa
took her to Disney World in Florida where they saw Cirque du Soleil perform
impossible moves. And working together to plant that Japanese garden at
Lisa's house, the one with irises and a little Japanese maple tree.
But there is also something more permanent than memories. Between yoga
and heavy metal, Lisa wrote things down in journals. When Barbara, Zoe
Jean and some 300 people went to Lisa's funeral and wake, they heard some
of Lisa's poems. Then, like the rabbits in Lisa's story, they could hear
her, feel her close.
In the story, rabbits Henry and Sara are best friends who "shared
secrets and lots of laughs," Lisa wrote, under a large oak tree in
the meadow where they lived. One day, Sara was too tired to play anymore
and Henry found a final, special resting place for her. He cried.
"One day," Lisa wrote, "while on his way to the big oak
tree, Henry felt a strange breeze across his face and whiskers. Then it
circled around his ears. It felt like a big soft hug."
-- Michael P. McKinney
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