Oh, the places you'll go.
Hey Friends, short post this time around.
I am running a marathon this month, and I figured I might as well put my insanity and time to good use by helping raise money for charity. Please help me raise money for kids and families affected by Congenital Heart Disease (CHD). Even $5 makes a difference to these under-funded, life-saving programs!
That’s all I have to say for now.
In today’s news of Philadelphia, check out this beautiful Foxglove. Sorry it’s kind of a shoddy photo, but at least it’s real:
At the risk of being uncharacteristically somber, I really can’t see Foxglove without being reminded of a specific person, because she was part of a 2-woman band called Foxxglove, and I had never seen the actual flower called Foxglove until I moved to Philly. But here, it’s everywhere. Much like she is now, for everyone.
The “she” in question was Lisa, a magically incandescent long-ago friend that we lost this spring, whom I can’t stop thinking about, because life is hard and love is complicated and beauty is fleeting. I don’t want to go into her story here, because I don’t really know it, and I hadn’t known her for a long time. Years ago I knew her once and loved her then, but there are so many others now for whom the loss of her is so vast and all-consuming, I can’t begin to imagine, and it makes me feel mine pales by comparison. And yet, everyone’s grief has right to expression. Or does it? Not sure the answer to this question, but I do know that I would never want to do those who loved her – or her memory – any disrespect. That being said, I would like to share something beautiful she contributed to this world. (Credit to filmmaker Josh Freund for this amazing video.) I think I have watched it about a hundred times.
I'm in tears….Mama D…To me, like a big sister. To everyone, beauty and love and burning bright and joy and expression and adventure and power and so much…This is the last video I was lucky enough to make for Lisa. I can't stop crying as I watch….Tragedy must not be the only reminder to us to cherish our lives, be grateful daily and love fearlessly.
Posted by Josh Freund on Monday, April 10, 2017
I don’t understand the pain she was feeling, or why it often seems that the world’s most sensitive and beautiful people are the ones who suffer the most, and the ones who we get the least time with; the ones we most cannot hold. Lisa was a contagiously exuberant force, an inspiring heart, and singularly possessed of an intoxicating joy. She was greatly gifted at translating all that for the masses. But it seems the cost of that was profound.
I don’t understand, no one does, but I suppose it’s none of our business. For some people, sometimes life is such a painful journey that they just want to say F* it, and leap right off this mortal coil. It’s like they take the brunt of the world’s most difficult sorrows for the rest of us. For the record, I’m not judging anyone for that, but please don’t. Call me. Call your parent(s). Call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. Call anyone. We love you. I guarantee we’re devastated without you.