Three Years Gone...Time to Learn

This time three years ago, upon returning home from the library with a stack two feet high of bluegrass cds, I took a call from my second-oldest brother. The words rang hollow in my ears. He couldn't have just said my mother was dead, could he?

I didn't even know she'd gone to the hospital, or that anyone was worried. I never got to say goodbye, tell her how smart she was one last time, or ask her if she liked bluegrass, which, I had just that day discovered, rocked my world.

I miss her. On days like today, when I need her to help me make sense of my world and the people in it, I miss her more. My kids miss her. We miss her attitude, her convictions, her stubbornness, her stories, her total devotion, and the way she never let us do anything in her kitchen.

She left me with four of the greatests gifts in my life -- I have three amazing brothers and a sister who has been the saving grace of my life. She left behind ten grandchildren. We miss her more because she's missing everything.

The work of Tim O'Brien along with his spirit, talent, wisdom, and perspective became a considerable influence on my approach to life as well as the dedication I have found to spreading the joy of music. You'll be hearing a lot about him once this blog gets going. For now, I want to share this lyric. Here are the liner notes Tim wrote to explain the song:

"Two of my siblings died before their time. My mother tells the story of my older sister, Mollie, waiting on the front porch for our older sister, Brigid, to come home from school, weeks after the funeral. My older brother's death when I was fourteen was definitely something I had a hard time understanding....Pat Alger and I tried to write about the sudden and strange finality of death and how we deal with it."

June Anne, we miss you. We've moved on, and taken the best parts of you, the best moments and the wisest sayings, as we've traveled. But we sure wish you were here to share the journey with us.

Deeply missed by Mike D., Deb, David, Michele, Brian, Shelley, Jennie, Anne, and Mike, Doris Jeanne, Linda, and Gary, and all their children.

Time To Learn
From Oh Boy! O'Boy!(Tim O'Brien, Pat Alger (Howdy Skies Music, ASCAP/Bait and Beer Music, Forerunner Music, Inc., ASCAP))


The hand is cold that once held mine
I can't believe you've really left this world behind
I can wait and I can hope I'll get over this in time

It takes time to learn when someone's gone for good
They're not comin' back like you wish they would
In the empty hours when you miss them so
Then it's time to learn to let them go

Your last hours we never knew
We never had a chance to say goodbye to you
Words unsaid and things undone
We'd just begun and now we'll never see them through

It takes time to learn when someone's gone for good
They're not comin' back like you wish they would
In the empty hours when you miss them so
It takes time to learn to let them go

It takes time to learn that you're gone for good
You're not comin' back like I wish you would
In the empty hours when I miss you so
It's time to learn to let you go

The hand is cold that once held mine .....

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/clipserve/B000000F2O001004/1/103-4578192-7154249