Deep sorrow

I just got the word that Mary Travers is gone, left this world yesterday. I loved her. As I have been sitting here, listening to her beautiful voice, I am realizing how much of an impact this woman has had on me. My very first concert experience was at Selland Arena in Fresno, CA. Me, Gina and my dad. He made us dress up. This 8th grade girl in a very cool red velvet mini-dress couldn't believe her eyes or ears when Peter, Paul and Mary took the stage. Her straight blond hair, her moves, her voice and the intensity of her soul. I had just read Joan Baez's autobiography, Daybreak. The seeds of pacifism were freshly planted in my idealist heart. My spirit felt connection to these singer song-writers and shouted out with them:
"How many deaths will it take 'til they know?"
from Blowin' in the Wind
"When will they ever learn?"
from Where Have all the Flowers Gone
When my family packed it up and moved to Idaho a few years later, the Ford Galaxy became my Jet Plane and through tears I sang with her,
"don't know when I'll be back again, oh babe, I hate to go."
The lyrics from Don't Think Twice, It's Allright
"still I wish there were something you would do or say. . ."
and the way she looked when she sang them. . . well I tried to sing it just like that when my teenage heart was broken.
My season as a preschool teacher could not have been without PP&M. We loved being swallowed by a Boa Constrictor, Goin to the Zoo and
"star light, star bright,
first star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
have the wish I wish tonight."
The Garden Song was our anthem and we sang it for Sparkle Center Graduation. Elder Rosenburg lent his guitar, someone's Aunt Libby played the piano and Rebecca Brooks led the little voices. I watched from the side, overcome as my dream came true; Mary's voice and passion coming at me on my back yard deck through these little ones.
"So plant your rows, straight and long
temper them with prayer and song"
Then my dream really came true. I got to take my child to her first concert; Peter, Paul and Mary at the Spokane Opera House. Me and Lindsay. I think I made her dress up. My soul again rose up and we sang out, a Capella, tears streaming
"Oh oh, deep in my heart
I do believe we shall
overcome some day"
Every child of mine and every child of theirs has had a moment on my lap in the old rocking chair with Puff the Magic Dragon. And yes I cry a little, every time, when we get to
"a dragon lives forever
but not so little girls and little boys"
Mary, you held my hand as I bridged into adolescence, as I loved, lost and loved again; you helped me raise my babies and helped me let them go. You were in my car, full blast as I pledged my love to Presley on her first day of daycare. We sang, my voice faltered
"I'll walk in the rain by your side,
I'll cling to the warmth of your tiny hand,
I'll do anything to help you understand
I'll love you more than anybody can."
I live in song. There's a lyrical answer for everything. I know now it all started with that swishy blond lady. Her songs are my life's soundtrack. Like Puff, she will live forever.
"I've got a song let me sing it for you,
let me say it now while the meaning is true.
Wouldn't it be good if we could sing it together?
THE SONG IS LOVE . . . "