Go Blog Yourself

Maybe you’ve heard about our upcoming pilgrimage. The one where Charley and I, the kids and our dog, live in an RV and travel the US. The one where we learn to heal, with out all the distractions of “stuff”. The one where we school, work and learn on the go. The one where we spray-paint F*CK YOU CANCER on the side of RV and hit the road. (ok, not really) The one where, if all goes wrong, we cry UNCLE and come back home.

This weekend, our super cool, musicians, and all around good people, Charlene and Greg Johnson, will be hosting a house concert for us.
Here’s what Charlene had to say:

charlenejohnson.com

NEWS:

Aug’09:

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my site…too long! Hope this finds you well and enjoying summer.

We’ve got a fun house concert/fundraiser going on this weekend. The Whitts lost their two year old twin babygirl in Jan. of this year. Her name was Tuesday. Here’s a beautiful blog that chronicles their journey (Jess is an amazing writer). They want to get out of dodge for a while so they are taking our RV end of Sept through Feb with their three kids and heading out across the U.S. for some road therapy to promote pediatric cancer awareness at various pediatric hospitals across the U.S. If you’d like to donate money to their cause you can do so through their paypal account. Click on my contact page and email me and I’ll tell you how.

Save the date! Sept. 26th will bring us another awesome house concert with Seth Horan! Seth is crazy talented coming all the way from from Reno, NV. Email me to reserve your spot now!

Be well.

CJ

If you are local and would like to come, leave me a comment or send me an email. If you would like to donate to our mission, there is a new paypal button on your right.
If you want to hear some really smooth, soulful music, go here and buy a cd.
If you want to send us some TuTu’s or Tukes ( Thanks Lowell’s!!) to be donated to children’s oncology clinics in Tuesday’s name, send them to Tuesday’s Tutus
P.O. Box 518
Watkins, CO 80134
Or donate thru Paypal, attn: Tutus

If you want to leave judgmental comments, send them to KISS MY ASS, Anywhere, USA.
If you want to send love, I’m all yours!

xo,
Jessica

This is Ellen and Sonny. We pass them on the road to my Mother-in-law’s home every time we visit. Every time. Sometimes multiple times a day. Sonny is always on his porch. The only thing that has changed in our five years of passing, is perhaps the length of his beard. I spoke with Ellen once, on the road to town, but this time I stopped and met them. Rumor had it, there was to be a wedding.
They were gracious enough to allow me to take some photographs.

Today, after 22 years together, they became Man and Wife.
As my cute friend, Jen would say, (and millions of other Jews, for that matter)
Mazel Tov!

It looks a bit like a used book store for sad people around here. Every flat surface is littered with something like, Cancer: What good is it anyway?, Grieving your dead sibling, or, Sorry your kid died: Here’s a list of 20 things that will make you think you’re are all better for 6 or 7 seconds.
Or something like that.
I’ll pick one up, almost every night before bed, searching for the perfect thing that’s going to help me sleep. Ease my pain a little. Usually it just leaves me wanting for more, although sometimes, something reaches through the pages. Usually writing from other parents who know. And of course, from the Ultimate parent who knows my pain first hand.
Last night it was Romans, and it really struck a chord. These 1,952 year old letters, probably being read hot off the presses by grieving parents, have the same relevance today, almost 2000 years later, for this grieving parent. I have said it, you have said it, there are no words when a child dies that can make it better. None that matter anyway. And then, right there it says,
“We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”
I don’t think I want to hear what those groans sound like, but I’m glad I’m not the only one groaning to God.
So, what I take away from most of these books is that I’m not alone. We are not alone. Not in the most Universal, or the most intimate of ways. I am not the first to know this pain. Mamas are grieving their babies in every corner of this world. Yesterday and tomorrow. Right now. It doesn’t help, but it does keep me connected.
I am not alone.