Coffee with Johnny Cash on His 80th Birthday
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
The sun is on the cemetery, leaves are on the stones, there never was a place on earth that felt so much like home.
Let’s celebrate what would’ve been Johnny Cash’s eightieth birthday today with a song his daughter Rosanne Cash composed while mourning the loss of her father. As she explained to us earlier this year, the middle verse of “God Is in the Roses” came about the day after she buried her father:
“I got up at 5:00 in the morning and waited for the Starbucks to open and got coffee and went and sat on his grave and watched the sun rise — the sun, yeah, the sun rise on his grave. And it was really comforting to me. I took two cups of coffee — one for him. And I felt so at peace watching the sun rise on his grave and then that gave me that verse. But then I wanted to go out to, you know, more than just my personal experience, when I’m saying, I love you like a brother, father and a son. And now when I sing that live, I sing, I love you all like brothers.”
Today is the 5th anniversary of the passing of my oldest son, Nathan. He would want me to be strong…to laugh, to free myself from the stuff that has hurt us all. And I am….But I cry also..because I miss him…
But my little one is married and soon to be a father…and me a grandfather… Life has a way of moving us toward that Place, where we can Be. The lessons learned from the passing of my son are overwhelming sometimes…but lessons they are. And we let go…and move on.
parkstepp
A virtual big hug to you from all of us here.
~reblogged by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
Giving Thanks to My Ancestors on Día de Los Muertos
by Jenny Ward McDonald, guest contributor
Last fall the idea to visit the family graveyard came to mind for the first time in ages. Día de Los Muertos seemed like the perfect excuse to make the journey. I allowed life and distance to keep me away, however, and I never went.
I am not Latina, but I did develop a strong appreciation for Mexican culture while studying midwifery on the Texas/Mexico border. When I moved home to Georgia, I kept a piece of Mexico in my heart. Since the first idea to celebrate my ancestors Mexican-style entered my mind last year, the urge had only grown stronger. So as November approached this year, I resolved to do it. I invited my two sisters. One said she’d bake a casserole and we planned to picnic at the cemetery. On October 31st, they both cancelled on me. I was determined, however, and went anyway.
A Soldier in Afghanistan Bows Her Head on 9/11/11
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
At Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, a U.S. soldier bows her head during a prayer on a solemn, tenth anniversary ceremony of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. (photo: John Moore/Getty Images)
A Father Mourns His Lost Son
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
Robert Peraza, who lost his son Robert David Peraza, pauses at his son’s name at the North Pool of the 9/11 Memorial during the tenth anniversary ceremonies at the site of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2011, in New York.
(photo: Justin Lane/AFP/Getty Images)
China’s Day of Mourning
Shubha Bala, associate producer
On Wednesday, China declared an official day of mourning for the victims of the earthquake last week in a remote Tibetan region in the Qinghai province. At least 2,183 people have been killed in the earthquake, and 84 people are still missing.
The government shut down many entertainment activities including karaoke bars and online gaming sites. Search engines and newspapers were black and white for the day. And all TV stations could only broadcast state media of the rescue efforts for the entire day.
Image to the right: residents, rescuers, troops, and officials observed three minutes of silence at 10 a.m. on Wednesday in Xinig, the capital of the province that experienced the quake. (photo: AFP/Getty Images)
Students at a school in Hefei, in central China’s Anhui province, hold a candlelight vigil to mourn victims of the earthquake. (photo: AFP/Getty Images)
Students line up for a moment of silence. (photo: AFP/Getty Images)
Tibetan monks, wearing rescue mission vests, offer prayers for the day of mourning. The monks say they had been asked to leave the region on Wednesday and that they were absent from the national media on that day. (photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images)
In the lead image, a Xining airport worker grieves while standing in silence to mourn the earthquake victims. (photo: Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images)
