Museletter

My daughter, Lindsey, (it was decided 20 years ago having breakfast at a coffee shop in Japan with she and her sister that it was okay to refer them as “daughters” instead of “stepdaughters”) and her family returned to their home in New Jersey after spending three months with Pat and me.

Last February at the Key City Theater in Port Townsend, WA we created a video of songs and stories from the Civil Rights Movement entitled Remembering the Dream. Over the last 21 weeks we’ve shared that video in 21 distinct chapters or segments.

My mother, Ruth Pearson, and Mike Kirkland, the guy I replaced in The Brothers Four, died within a week of each other at the end of August. The days are now filled with grieving and gratitude.

There remains a lot to be thankful for during this uncertain time.

In Remembering the Dream we share songs and stories of the Civil Rights Movement from the 1950’s and 60’s. There is a clear connection to the Dream Dr. King shared in August of 1963, in the chronological and spiritual middle of that movement.

This time of separation has included a lot of remembering where we’ve been as well as dreaming of where we may go from here.

These days we continue to be together in our isolation and separation. Among things we share are our individual stories of how social distancing and social isolation are impacting our lives in different yet often similar ways.

There have never been times like these in my lifetime. There is a song I wrote while waiting to hear the news of a friend’s condition. It was sort of a writing meditation that took the form of this song.

We now have a video of Remembering the Dream. The plan is to begin sharing it next month. The process of creating the video was, well, amazing. Beginning the middle of February we shared dinner and the Dream with a small group at some friends’ home.