Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Another chapter comes to a close:














I was three years old when the neighbor lady next door started keeping me. My Mom and Dad both worked and left before sunrise each weekday morning and I would be walked over still half asleep to her house and remain with her for the better part of the day. We were always doing something, going somewhere and I being the good little boy that I was, followed along and stayed close to her side.

Mrs. Cora as I called her then, and even to this day, was my best-est buddy and my closest friend. She always just let me "be." She never tried to change me or make me into something other than who I was in the moment and looking back now, I can see what a gift that has been to me on so many levels. Mrs. Cora and Mr. Bob never had children of their own and the love that they would have had for a child that was theirs, was graciously bestowed upon me.

I grew up being apart of their lives and they an intricate part of mine. I would spend the night often, go on trips with them, be apart of their gatherings when relatives and friends came to town. I felt I belonged in their lives and it wasn't awkward or uncomfortable, but rather familiar and safe. She would walk me to school each morning and be waiting for me by the front door when it was time to go home. I knew I could depend on her to be there, simply because she always was.

She began to make my lunch for me each day and opened a bank account to put the lunch money that Mom and Dad gave me into savings. Looking back now I can't help but smile at that. She bought the food for me to take as my lunch because she wanted to teach me the value of learning to save money. I couldn't see how loving that particular act was then, or all the other pieces of the love puzzle was, but now it is memories such as that that reveal to me the full spectrum of just how deep their love for me was and remains.

They watched me grow up, and as those years passed I in turn, watched them grow older. There are some people that in your mind never grow old. They never seem as if they could cease to be, because the spark of light within them is so brilliant and so bright that to fathom it ever burning out seems impossible. Mrs. Cora has always been that in my mind; So alive, so forever in motion, fully animated and laughing.

The love between Cora and Bob was pretty remarkable. They were each others closest someone and even when they became ill, they wanted to be together, side by side in the nursing home. Her memory was gone about many things, but she knew him and wanted to remain close to his side no matter what. I would watch them slowly fading away and feel such sadness in knowing that soon they would be gone from my life. Every Christmas, every Birthday, Thanksgiving and days in between, they had been apart of my world. My Family, through the years took them into our fold and they were always invited to the gatherings and treated with love and respect. They belonged in that setting and we embraced their presence always.

In the nursing home they shared the same room, because he would have it no other way. She was his to watch over and care for just as it had always been for so many years. Bob sadly passed recently leaving behind his beloved wife and friend, who didn't fully understand that he was gone. There was suddenly a peace in knowing that she could not longer remember which had been a source of great sadness for me personally. My other Mama, could no longer see me as she once had, couldn't be fully present and be my familiar touchstone that she had always been. When I would visit she would seem so distant and detached from what was happening around her, but as I would approach the eyes would reflect that something was coming back to her, but unclear as to who or what, that connection was, she would simply smile and look into my eyes.

She is gone now, her physical form that is. But the energy of who she has been in my life remains with me. I feel them both, I hear them both in my heart and mind speaking to me, reminding me of what was. And I miss it! I can't even begin to fully put into words the sadness that lingers in my heart because of their passing, and yet there is a fullness that overshadows that pain when I do look back and think of all that we have shared. I have come to realize that as much as that little boy needed them for so many reasons, that they needed me as well.

God always gives us what we need to see us through whatever is ours to face in life, and probably the greatest form of gratitude is living fully present and being aware of those gifts and how they form a path that leads us on to do what is ours to do. I have been richly blessed in my life, I am so sure of that fact every single day. So in the days, months and even years ahead I know that my life has been forever changed and enriched by having had the love of these two remarkable people.

There is a line in the funeral service that I do so often that always stands out to me and I feel it so deeply and personally now. It reads...
"For we do not say goodbye to you, but rather we now say good morning and God-speed on your way. For we now see you as God has always seen you, an ever radiant, loving child of the most high...."

There is no death, only new beginnings in spirit. I know that the love and light that you both are lives on elsewhere, and always within my heart. You will not be forgotten, you will always be celebrated for who you have been. Be at peace, for all is well....


When I come to the end of the road And the sun has set for me,I want no rites in a gloom-filled room,Why cry for a soul set free!


Miss me a little - but not for longAnd not with your head bowed low. Remember the love that we once shared, Miss me, but let me go.


For this journey that we all must take And each must go alone; It's all a part of the Master's plan A step on the road to home.


When you are lonely and sick at heart Go to the friends we know, And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds.Miss me, but let me go.


- Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)















Friday, March 5, 2010

Bukeka Shoals visit to Unity of Pensacola


Bukeka Shoals can sing I tell ya! She has style, she has energy and the girl has something beyond all that which really speaks to my heart; She is humble while doing what she does, being what she is, and all while letting her light shine in the process. Just gotta' love those kind of people.


Bukeka has a reputation for being a pretty remarkable performer in the Kansas City area, as well as in the Unity and New Thoughts circles. The first time I ever heard her sing I was so blown away that I almost stood up during her performance because I could feel something stirring within me.

I've always known when I am hearing or having a truly spiritual moment because something within calls me to rise up; No, I mean literally to stand to my feet. I don't always do it mind you, but when I feel that urge taking place inside, I know that there is something before me that I am to take notice of.


Bukeka came to Pensacola this past week to do our Sunday service at Unity of Pensacola and to do a concert on Monday evening. And true to form, she blew us away. Yesterday we took her to lunch and then for a quick stroll along the beach. Below is a quite short, but memorable moment from that beach outing that I wanted to share with some of you.





If you would like more information on Bukeka Shoals and her music that information can be found at http://www.bukeka.com/


Life is good - And so are YOU!



Jamie