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Greetings from the Northland!
Published August 31, 2008
I am writing this column from my mother’s garden in Fargo, North Dakota, where Michael G. and I have been since Monday, Aug. 25.
My mother’s garden is a perfectly German mix of art and function: Patches of colorful flowers dot a productive vegetable garden (I wish you all could taste the vine-ripened tomatoes and sharp little onions!) surrounded by apple trees and berry bushes.
There are grassy paths all around it, making it much like a miniature park, and while I’m here on vacation, I will spend many hours here, reading, writing and just sitting in the sunshine. The temperature is 86 degrees Fahrenheit here this Saturday afternoon, and it is bright and sunny, but the sun is far less intense than it is in Del Rio.
The garden is also visited by any number of birds, many of which we don’t have at all in Del Rio and others which we see only during the winter months. Earlier this week, I have seen American Crows, Black-capped Chickadees and American Robins from the garden, and yesterday and the day before, a Least Flycatcher visited.
This week I want to publicly say goodbye to one of my best friends and fellow News-Herald columnist Jan Fenimore.
Jan and her husband George and their sons William and Charlie are starting the next adventure on their life journey together in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
Jan served as my spiritual advisor for a number of years after I returned to the News-Herald in 2000, and I’m sure she will continue in that role, though now it will have to be at a distance.
Jan’s Sunday column, “The Awakening Heart,” which appeared in the newspaper’s Lifestyles section for more than a decade, deservedly earned her a large and dedicated following among our readership. I will miss her weekly explorations of the soul, and I know that many of Abroad’s readers will miss them as well.
I didn’t know what to make of Jan when I first met her. At first blush, I pigeonholed her as someone too “touchy-feely” for my realist sensibilities, but I gave our friendship a chance, and as it grew, I came to see that Jan was a more of a hard-eyed realist than most people I’ve met; never afraid to speak clearly and honestly about issues most of us find nearly impossible to bear: death and dying, loss and the inescapable necessity of change. Much of our time together was spent learning to embrace impermanence, sharing the lessons of letting go and of savoring each precious moment of the inestimable gift of life.
Jan’s warrior courage in walking her own difficult path gave me strength and her example gave me hope. With her encouragement and always-positive spirit, she helped me to walk what native peoples call the Good Red Road, a life of self-examination and joyful service. Jan helped me to grieve my losses and in doing so helped teach me about the transformation of despair.
I will miss not being able to see her every week, as was our habit; not being able to call her and drive out to the Goldenwing Center at a moment’s notice, but I have the certainty that I will see her again and I have the memories of the time I shared with an extraordinary human being.
God bless, Jan; God bless and Godspeed.
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