by Kevin Burton Today we talk birthdays on what would have been my mother’s 92nd. She died May 4, leaving an unfillable hole in my heart and life. She is gone from this life but far, far from forgotten. There were many special days while mom was with us. Birthdays were among the …
Category Archives: grief
Missing My Mom And Defining “Carry On”
by Kevin Burton “And when one of us is gone, and one of us is left to carry on, then remembering will have to do..” “You and Me Against The World” Helen Reddy The first song I played after learning of my mother’s death on May 4, was “First Morning In Heaven,” by The …
Words To Live By, Words To Die By, Words
by Kevin Burton I bury my mother today. Can you imagine such a thing? Life is a coin flip, with love on one side and pain on the other. Pain, in some measure, is the residue of love. Live. Love. Toss the coin. Do it. “There’s a sad day coming, and …
My Friend, “Prepaid” Is The Only Way To Go
by Kevin Burton I called the cemetery where my mother will be buried next week and told the clerk that the time had come. The clerk was actually en route to work. She said she would look up our family’s records once she got there, and call me back. “Everything is paid …
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Bye For Now, Evelyn Marie, Bye For Now
by Kevin Burton Mom started it. I followed suit right away. We both understood though we never discussed it. Somewhere, maybe six or seven years ago, we began ending a phone conversation or one of my visits to her at assisted living or in the nursing home with “bye for now!” We’ll …
Good Advice: Hold Lightly To Earthly Things
by Kevin Burton James called your life and mine “a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14b NKJV). Even those with a complete lack of discernment and self-awareness, if they would pause long enough to just do the math of life, I think would still come to …
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No Tears In Heaven, No End To Tears On Earth
by Kevin Burton The former things. The former things. May they soon become former. There is a song, “The Tabernacle of God,” released in 1979 by Cynthia Clawson. It has always been a favorite of mine, but these days it leaps up and grabs me. My mother is in hospice care now. …
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Pilot On Holly’s Plane Crash Was Not Qualified
by Kevin Burton The 21-year-old pilot of the plane that crashed on this day in 1959, taking the lives of three famous young musicians was not qualified for the flight, according to published accounts. The crash, which took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) has been …
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Farewell To The Meathead, Closing Credits
by Kevin Burton I’m supposed to be good with words, but sometimes there just aren’t any. I’m having trouble expressing my distress at the violent death of Actor/Director Rob Reiner. Reiner and his wife Michele were found dead Sunday and their son Nick is now facing two counts of murder. Sadness, disbelief, anger, …
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How Deep Is Your Love?, Good Question
by Kevin Burton My sister and I had one last shared musical moment, in the days before her death Aug. 25 of last year. We had thousands of them over half a century together. What I wouldn’t give to have a few more of them now. The final one came last August, …
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