Monday, November 24, 2008

I wish I had a river . . . I could skate away on . . .


When she's asked about how she's been doing in the past year, she's silent for a very long time. "I guess it's always changing," she says. There's another pause. "What else can I say?" Her voice is breathy and fragile, and she takes a few gulps of air. "I just wake up each day in a slightly different place—grief is like a moving river, so that's what I mean by 'it's always changing'." She stops again. "It's a strange thing to say"—her words unravel slowly, her eyes tear up—"because I'm at heart an optimistic person, but I would say in some ways it just gets worse. It's just that the more time that passes, the more you miss someone. In some ways it gets worse. That's what I would say."

Michelle Williams on Heath Ledger, in Newsweek.

Or it could be Gannet on Chicago Son, in general.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

No words, GG. Lots of hugs though.

Stratoz said...

truly favored tune jazzed up with much respect to Joni for you...

http://www.last.fm/music/Herbie+Hancock/_/River?autostart

sunflowerkat said...

Breathtaking photo and one of my all time favorite songs.

I get exactly what Michelle is saying. It could also be Sunflowerkat on sister Meg.

{{{{{ROBIN}}}}}

Gannet Girl said...

That's wonderful, Stratoz. Thank you.

And I wish I could take credit for the borrowed photo. {{{{}}}} to you, too, Kat.

Anonymous said...

That song always makes me cry. The tune--divorced of words--is mournful, I think.

Jan said...

Love and hugs to you.

Stratoz said...

ppolarbear--- Give it a listen, the tune is not divorced of words, a jazz singer comes along for the ride. The album is Herbi Hancock's tribute to Joni... "River: The Joni Letters." Joni shows up on one of the tunes. It won the Grammy for best Jazz CD this past year. Truly a beautiful record.

Joni is a very jazzy woman. I loved her before I knew anything about jazz.

Ellyn said...

When I read that last week; I thought of you. And another friend on a similar journey.

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

Yes, grief does take a long time. Hugs to you in your journey.

Magdalene6127 said...

Yes. (((GG)))

Lori said...

This is a much better song for this than my life's theme song of Row Row Row Your Boat (....life is but a dream).

{{{{{GG}}}}} from me too.

Lisa :-] said...

Just bought the Sarah McLachlan Winter CD, with a great cover of this song.

Now every time I hear it, I will think of you.

A good thing. You need thinking about...

Kathryn said...

The desolation of that fantastic picture gave me, for a moment, an inkling of what things might feel like...I hate the loneliness of that for you.
Still no words, really.

Anonymous said...

how can you miss, any less, a person who was part of your heart. i think that you just learn to tamp it down so that you can go on in life. when people mention paul's dad to him (he recently passed away) it's as if you can see that he's checking to see if the treasure chest is locked or springing open to expose all the feelings and memories.
yes...a winding river. it's all connected but if you look back, you don't always see the whole thing.