One Love and Two Lives

The One Love and Two Lives podcast series documents in a personal way the journey of both those who leave and those who are left behind.

My dad died on May 28, 1997, the day before my mom’s 75th birthday. Until mom’s death in 2020 Pat and I often returned to Spokane on those dates to honor my dad’s whole life before waking up the next morning and celebrating mom’s birthday.

Pat and I returned to Spokane in 2022 to honor my parents for who they had been in life as well
as recognizing and ritualizing who and what they were becoming. We started that first day at places my folks lived and worked and raised their family. We finished the second day downstream on the banks of the Spokane River. We felt we had somehow arrived, for them and for ourselves, at a moment of endings and new beginnings.

Podcast episodes

  • One Love and Two Lives - Part 1

    (Episode 7)

    On May 28, 2022 it was 25 years since my dad died. The next day would have been my mother's 100th birthday.

    One Love and Two Lives episode image, a photo of a couple on a mountain in the desert
  • One Love and Two Lives - Part 2

    (Episode 8)

    It was challenging yet important to visit places my folks lived and worked and worshipped and raised their family. &nb

    One Love and Two Lives episode image, a black and white photo of a stone house in the forest
  • One Love and Two Lives - Part 3

    (Episode 9)

    There is a saying out there that "we are as sick as our secrets." As someone who grew up in a family with a secret - in this case that my dad had been in a mental institution when I was born - I ac

    One Love and Two Lives Part 3 episode image, Mark with his guitar in front of a plum tree and a building
  • One Love and Two Lives - Part 4

    (Episode 10)

    There was a natural progression of places Pat and I visited as we honored my parents' lives. We started with places that represented the lives they had lived.

    One Love and Two Lives Part 4 episode image, Mark with his guitar in a large public garden
  • One Love and Two Lives - Part 5

    (Episode 11)

    My dad died on May 28, 1997. My mother turned 75 the next day. For more than twenty years on the 28th we celebrated my dad's whole life and his dying day.

    One Love and Two Lives Part 5 episode image, Mark with his guitar on a balcony overlooking a lush cityscape in the sun
  • One Love and Two Lives - Part 6

    (Episode 12)

    Pat and I left the river and went to the cemetery. It was beginning to rain.

    One Love and Two Lives Part 6 episode image, Mark with his guitar In the woods standing before a music stand
  • One Love and Two Lives - Part 7

    (Episode 13)

    For our last stop we returned to the river. To a place our family visited regularly when we first moved to Spokane. There is a suspension bridge there that crosses the river.

    One Love and Two Lives Part 7 episode image, Mark and his with Pat at a table together smiling

Videos

  • One Love and Two Lives

    Over the years I've written a number of songs for my mom and my dad. For each of them and for them as a couple. "One Love and Two Lives" holds a special place.

  • My Dad's Last Gift

    My dad was in a mental institution when I was born. He eventually came home and had a full and successful life. At the same time  our family was, in certain ways, "haunted" by the secret, the stigma, and the specter of mental illness.

  • Real Life Field of Dreams

    As we get older the line between this world and the next, whatever form that takes, becomes fainter. More of those we love go across that line. Each day brings us personally closer to the line.

Blog posts