My best friend, Mark P-R, died last night. You are reading this because of him. You are being rejuvenated by this website because of him. You are emotionally moved to tears from his videos created out of his imagination because of him. Our 30 year collaboration was through our tradition we called “Cocktail Catchup.”
Traditions are real. Traditions are important, maybe more important today than ever. Daily distractions, the drama of modern politics and wars, the struggle to maintain some semblance of balance will overtake the desire for a tradition, causing it to be set aside, delayed, waiting for a better time.
A better time will never come.
Traditions are ceremonies where, in the words of the Indeginous ancestors of this land, we “remember to remember.” Holidays, annual vacations, monthly luncheons, cocktail catchups are more than the food served or the drinks shared. These times are when we remember who we are in truth, who we are in our most vulnerable state. These are times when we listen, encourage, laugh and reestablish our bond of history, the present and most importantly the future.
Traditions are gifts that nurture relationships with warmth and compassion. Poet Robin Wall Kimmerer says these gifts are a, “shared celebration of abundance,” a feeling that I have everything I need.
My sons and I ride motorcycles together. We have a traditional ride in August each year for “The Few” (there are only three of us after all). We ride. We eat and drink (the balance between the two will tilt from day-to -day). We talk. We laugh. We debate differing ideas. We question (they say I ask more questions than they do). And we ride again. It’s a tradition. It’s important. Not for where we go or what we see. But for who it make us as human beings, bonded, together, united, transformed.
Mark and I had our monthly tradition. It will not be lost if I continue the honor of other traditions moving forward. His son, Devin, has offered to continue this website that it might help and guide someone who will need it now and in the future. We may continue the “cocktail catchup” tradition together. My sons and I will continue to ride as “The Few.”
You will establish and cherish your own traditions, continuing to honor and uphold past traditions.
And Remember to Remember.
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