Sally Mara Art

something

B I G

and

E        N        D        L        E        S        S

Something Big and Endless

What is Hip

Bossa Nova is not a Crime

Uptown Special

Pont des Artes

Swing it Up

Something Big and Endless 2

Toxic

Swop

 

Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky

 

Night and Day

In dedication to my father 

George Donald Sturman 

July 28, 1928 - January 17, 2016 
someone
 BIG  

and  

E      N      D      L      E      S      S 

in my life 

 回光返照 
 “The returning radiance turns back to illuminate.”

~~~~~~except from the eulogy by Dr. Peter Charles Sturman~~~~~~

January 24, 2016 
  

Once it was clear that Dad’s condition was not going to improve, he went very quickly. That was Dad—decisive, and never one to be late. The day before, my wife Hui-shu mentioned to me that it was very important someone be with him at all times and urged me to spend the night in the room, which I did. 

The reason, she explained, was something the Chinese firmly believe in—a final return before departing, sometimes marked by lucid thoughts and words. She even had an expression for it: 回光返照. 

Nothing happened that night, nor the next morning, but later that Sunday, when only Mom was in the room with him, Dad opened his eyes for a number of minutes. He passed away about an hour later.  

I thought about this as I began to write this eulogy for him, and I looked more deeply into what this expression means. It turns out the  expression was originally descriptive of a moment at the end of the day, when a setting sun, just before disappearing, seems to send its rays with particular clarity and insistence to light the sky.

Roughly translated, 回光返照 means “The returning radiance turns back to illuminate.”   

   What a beautiful metaphor, not just for that final burst of light, lovely as that may be, but for what it does- turning back to illuminate us.  Leaving us, Dad makes each of us glow.