Today A Burial

Larry Wolf, Family Headstone (2021)

From a Distance

It’s a cold day in January. My mother’s body has died. Her spirit is fully alive in each of us. 

You are gathered together at the grave. Her passing is brutally present for you. Some of us who love her, who love you, are not there, though we are very much still present on this planet, and in each other's hearts.

Maxine, my mother, our mother, grandmother, cousin, aunt, friend …, has been preparing us for her passing for a long time, from the ways she strove to celebrate each of our unique lives, to the handmade birthday cards she sent, to the redbud tree she insisted was planted last year on the hillside by Katey and Scott, Alex and Daniel’s home, where she spent so much time these past two years, to her desire to be buried here, on this hillside.

I miss her greatly and I feel deeply called upon, to emulate her spirit of rebirth, of the many ways she reinvented herself and expanded her life through the years. To live more fully, to love deeper, to make bolder art, to make music - like she played the ukulele.. however badly, but so full of her unique life force. 

May she dance with the angels. May she sing from the heavens. May she live in our hearts.

Thank you. Bless you. Be in peace.