Blowing In The Wind

This post begins below the dotted line, but first this reminder:

PeterFest

Saturday April 18, 2015

1 p.m. Memorial Service

Schley Grange Hall

3 p.m. Musical Celebration

Down Yonder Farm

Details to follow here soon

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I am a little late posting these, in part because of the strange circumstances that, well, erupted as our family gathered and spread Peter's ashes.

But before I tell that tale, we spread the ashes on March 14 when Peter's sister, Karen, was down here from New York.  We chose three of Peter's favorite places on the farm:  The Music Building (outside...no pictures),

The pond...

...and out in the woods where Peter felled trees and split wood to heat our home.  I've mentioned several times how much I appreciate all the wood he left to keep me warm this winter, with some left over for next.

The scattering was deeply moving, and sadder than I had expected.  It felt like another loss...another letting go of the physicality of the man I loved so much.  

Each of us chose a song to say or sing...since Peter tended to philosophize about life in song lyrics.  

Jessie chose "Drift Away:" 

Oh, give me the beat boys and free my soul

I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away

Oh, give me the beat boys and free my soul

I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away

Amanda chose "Landslide:"

I take my love, take it down

I climb a mountain and turn around

And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills

Will the landslide bring you down

Karen chose "Oh Mary Don't You Weep Don't You Moan:"

Brothers and sisters don't you cry
There'll be good times by and by
Pharaoh's army got drownded
O Mary don't weep

Well oh Mary don't you weep, don't mourn
O Mary don't you weep, don't mourn
Pharaoh's army got drownded
O Mary don't you weep

Alejandro chose "The River of Dreams:"

I'm not sure about a life after this
God knows I've never been a spiritual man
Baptized by the fire, I wade into the river
That runs to the promised land
In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the desert of truth
To the river so deep
We all end in the ocean
We all start in the streams
We're all carried along
By the river of dreams
In the middle of the night

Matt chose "If I Had A Hammer," in part because Peter sang it to Levin:

Well I got a hammer,

And I got a bell,

And I got a song to sing, all over this land.

It's the hammer of Justice,

It's the bell of Freedom,

It's the song about Love between my brothers and my sisters,

All over this land.

And I chose a song that I've been singing softly to myself ever since Peter died.  If you've been through grief and mourning, you know that regret in intimately tied up with grief.  I have regretted so many opportunities and openings I didn't take; all the times I said "no," to an invitation when I could have said, "yes."  So my song was Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing On My Mind:"

As I lie in my bed in the mornin'
Without you, without you.
Every song in my breast lies a bornin'
Without you, without you.

Are you going away with no word of farewell
Will there be not a trace left behind
Well, I could've loved you better, didn't mean to be unkind
You know that was the last thing on my mind

Finally, what happened is that we were all felled by a stomach virus that hit the first of us during the scattering, had claimed three by the evening, and all but one by the following Monday.  I got the "lite" version of the acute phase, but the loss of energy following the bout lingered, and has made it harder than ever to get things done.  Fortunately we're all better now.

I'll be posting again soon with lots of details for PeterFest - the Memorial Service and Musical Celebration that is coming oh-so-soon.  Stay tuned.

Susan