august 1995. she was 8. he was 13. it was turning out to be a bit of a rough month for their(closet deadhead) mother. the kids and i had a trip planned to see my pal. she lives north of seattle. a 5th grade teacher. the sort of a teacher that parents dream of, for their children. a perfect friend since she was 20 and i was 19... marshall tucker band. beaches on the west shore of the lake. operating a chair lift, all winter-long. cream cheese and green onion enchilada feasts. that kind of friend.
the kids and i were to fly to seattle on august 9th. the big day came. awake early, i answered the phone when it rang at a surprisingly early hour. my friend tim was on the line. "have you heard?" i had not heard much so far that day. the television was not on. the next thing tim said was: "jerry died in his sleep."
long silence. that moment felt a lot like when you were a kid, and you'd fall from a swing, landing hard on your belly. a big thump. no air. no obvious way in which to find any air. just that quiet, desperate gasp.
i don't think we said much, after that. i hung up the phone. off to the airport, and to the nearest news stand. that part was surreal, approaching the wall of newspapers. there was jerry garcia's picture on all the front pages. weird. who would have thought, in the beginning, that he'd be front page news? we all settled in for the quick flight to seattle. i began reading the various accounts, assumptions, and tributes to this man. just a man, after all. it began to sink in then, maybe.
the visit was many fine things. my son got his blonde hair died blue. his big wish finally happened, after months of asking. funny. he got bored with it fast, and couldn't wait for it to wash out.
we had waited months for this trip. i can't describe how strange i felt all that week. shock, i suppose. we did cool stuff. toughed it out. (my specialty.)
we were still in the northwest when jerry's giant memorial took place in golden gate park. at the time, it seemed perfectly okay to miss it. something i'd regret.
life has moved on. the kids in the above photo are adults now. the friend who called to tell me that garcia died was dead less than a year later. i miss him.
and i still miss jerry.
5 comments:
i didn't know all 3 kids went with you that time, i thought only Q was with you, has it been 10 years or 11?
I think of it every year too. Such a shame. Hard to imagine 11 years have already passed since then.
cb~ q stayed home that trip. she was 3 then. b took her to the memorial, som at least she represented me! it freaked her out some, she said. (everyone was crying.) eleven years this week.
The years rolling by like the snowball down the mountain...it doesn't seem it could have been that long!
alan
annie it was a sad day for many of us. i still can't believe how long it's been since john lennon was shot. that day is like kennedy's assassination for me, i know exactly where i was and what i was doing when i found out. jerry's death was not as momentous for me as john's, but i think i miss jerry more. funny.
Post a Comment