My parents met Brother Blue and Ruth in 2002 during my first storytelling feature. I had been so eager to share this treasure I had stumbled upon, but I was nervous – would they see what I saw? Would they feel what I felt?
Of course I had nothing to worry about. My parents instantly recognized they were meeting royalty.
Since then, they have asked after Blue and Ruth. And, every time I have seen Blue and Ruth, they asked after my parents. Most folks tend to ask about my Mom first, but wouldn’t you know, Blue danced to a different drum in that regard as well.
“How’s your daddy?” has been a typical Blue greeting for the last 7 years. “That man, he’s a special cat.” Blue would follow this up by pointing out the qualities of my father that other folks might not divine at first glance.
And then, more often than not, he would remind me.
“Never make that man cry.”
I just finished listening to my poor, poor recording of that first storytelling feature at Blue’s. Since you can’t hear Blue’s amazing, active listening (oh my god, how I loved to watch him listen) I’m making the first 5 seconds available so you can hear him laughing.
Please, please tell me I remembered to say “Thank you”.
4 comments:
I bet you did say thank you. And you just did again by posting this. Thank you, this made me laugh and cry at the same time.
Thanks so much for this, Elsa. Hearing Blue laugh has helped me grieve. His laugh is so undeniably part of that unique spirit we'll miss so much. It makes me feel him!
Thank you and you're welcome.
Writing (and sitting down to do the work that goes into writing) helped me as well.
I originally hesitated posting since I was just a small drop in Blue's ocean of a life. Who am I when everyone is suffering?
But I have felt those waves -- sometimes tickling at my feet, other times knocking me over all together. And then it hit me. How can anyone who has lived near the ocean not sing about the sea?
much love.
Amen. No one was only "a small drop" in the Ocean Blue. Beautiful writing, thanks for this.
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