Remembrance | RichardBeGone

Today is the seventh anniversary of Ruth’s passing.

I’ve flown back to Virginia to honor the date in my usual manner by visiting with her at the University Cemetery in Charlottesville. I believe I’m now more familiar with this section of The Grounds than any single other. Until the move to California I’d been in habit of visiting several times a year. I had thought from time to time about moving to C’ville just to be closer to the site. I suppose there are other reasons not the least of which the affinity with the area in general and the University in particular but the more I pondered the possibility the more it seemed a poor idea.

Dealing with memories is an uneasy task for me. By nature I’m inclined toward the past, nostalgic bordering on melancholy. The characteristic has it’s advantages, especially for someone who, Continue reading →

They’re grown now. Gone their separate ways. Pursuing their lives in accord with the values and visions they developed over the years. Their paths cross from time to time. Holidays. Weddings. And at some point births – and funerals.

Charles and AnnaSummer Circa 1989

I had no idea the day made this photograph where it might go. What it might ultimately mean to me. How incredibly precious a piece of history it would come to represent. The truth is were it not for this photograph I would probably have no memory of the events of that day at all. As it is I can only vaguely recall our activities: Visiting the Tidal Pool at the Jefferson Memorial just off the National Mall in Washington, DC. A spring day and from the looks of it shortly after the cherry blossoms had disappeared. I always enjoyed making photographs of the kids. Most parents do.

It’s more difficult now. These days more often than not we’re simply sharing our lives through photographs we post to various social media sites or swap by text and email. Charles, entertaining us with images from his latest trek with Green Tortoise and Anna most recently with the daily growth spurts of Ben the Mutt who joined her and Massie in Austin a few weeks back. We’re now observers of one another’s lives rather than daily participants.

It takes a while to adjust to that. Sometimes I wish we lived in a smaller country.