Flying a Kite

I was a child when Mary Poppins was first released, and it remains one of my favorite Disney movies. We saw it first at a drive in theater, which was the theater option of choice for the first ten or so years of my life, and the dress code, of course, was jammies. Dad got the big bucket of popcorn from the concession stand while Mom helped us kids to set up a nest of pillows and blankies in the back of the family station wagon from which to view the screen.

I've always loved the last scene and song, "Let's Go Fly A Kite" (lyrics by the Sherman Brothers):

Let's go fly a kite
Up to the highest height
Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
Oh, let's go fly a kite

In the scene, Mary Poppins' machinations have brought Mr. Banks to the realization that spending quality time with his children and family is at least as important as his job. For me, as for perhaps Jane and Michael Banks, the song personifies the spirit of hope.

It was with that song on my mind that Chris and I took part in a family kite fly on Cooper's Beach yesterday: the 2014 KITES for a CURE fundraiser sponsored by Uniting Against Lung Cancer, whose mission is to raise awareness and monies for lung cancer research. Participants received a T-shirt and a white kite which we could decorate if we chose. I should have come early or brought my own Sharpies, because I could happily have painted that kite for hours. As it was, I stuck with a simple design around an Eskimo proverb I particularly love:

Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven

where the love of our lost ones pours through

and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.

While much of the day had been sunny, by late afternoon high tide and clouds had rolled in over the beach. I haven't flown a kite in over twenty years, and so was pleased that there was enough breeze on the beach to get mine airborne. Chris snapped the pictures here where I am holding both his kite and mine (obviously lacking proper kite-flying style!). Regardless of technique, like that scene from Mary Poppins, the sight of a hundred kites bobbing in the air above was a joyous, uplifting sight.




The cause behind the kite fly is particularly relevant for me. Today is the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, the day my mother died of lung cancer twenty-nine years ago. So as well as honoring all our fallen heroes on Memorial Day, I add a special prayer for my mom who, while not magical like Mary Poppins, still created a fair amount of magic in our lives. I will always miss her.

I don't know a single soul whose life has not been touched by cancer. This is a scourge we need to beat. I wish it could be done in my lifetime.

At the bottom of my kite I wrote:

I pray for the end of cancer.

I still feel hope.