Ancestors and those we love who've gone before

This post will share some of my dear loved ones. 

I celebrate my relationships with friends and family whose spirits are close to me. I remember them with love, laughter, and the enjoyment of our lives when we were together...and think how someday or another, I will be joining them.

I made two special school friends in the 1950s and later named them my PrinSisters when we shared emails as I moved through jobs and apartments from 2001 to 2018...Jinni and Rosemary. I'm sure they (spirits must be able to read) read everything I post if it's at all interesting. Prin refers to Principia, the school in St. Louis where we met.

Here's Jinni on the left, Rosie on the right, at one of our after school meetups in one apartment or another...high school or maybe still middle school.

Jinni had MS for years, and rode around in her scooter, but still found ways to have rituals for the holy days of Pagans. She lived till she was 70.

Rosie on left, her hubby George, then me, in 2007 when they helped me move into an apartment in Black Mountain NC. Rosemary is for remembrance, and I remember my dear friend often, how much of a trickster she was! She died of breast cancer when she was 77 in 2018.

My dear grandmother Mozelle (seated in the middle here among her sisters) has been gone since the year I graduated high school (1960). She died of breast cancer.

Great grandmother Eugenia Almeda Booth Miller, the mother of the 4 women above...and after whom I was named Barbara Booth!

Here's my mother on the right and my grandmother Ada, my father's mother. Two very strong women and Ada taught my mother about Christian Science.

My mother, Mataley

My father, George

Much love to my father, here with me and all of his grandchildren. My sister's son, Zach, the boy on the right in the red shirt, died as a young adult by suicide. I'm holding my youngest son, while my older two sons stand by me. My blond niece, Lisa is living somewhere in Europe. She and my 3 sons are all living.

My dad's dad, George Rogers Sr. He left this life the year I graduated from high school.

My father with his mother, Ada and his wife (my mother) Mataley.

My sister, Mary, mother of Lisa and Zach

Of course I also must include Panther and Muffin...

I had Panther from September, 2012 until June 23, 2018. I loved her free spirit, and her beautiful coat.

Muffin was born on my birthday on my front porch in St. Augustine FL, and I cared for her as we moved to Tampa then Black Mountain NC. I said goodbye to her in 2015.

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THOUSANDS OF CANDLES CAN BE LIGHTED FROM A SINGLE CANDLE, AND THE LIFE OF THE CANDLE WILL NOT BE SHORTENED. HAPPINESS NEVER DECREASES BY BEING SHARED.

THE BUDDHA -------------------------- When angels visit us, we do not hear the rustle of wings,  nor feel the feathery touch... ...but we know their presence  by the love they create  in our hearts.         Mary Baker Eddy

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A Prayer for the Dead

You have come to the end of this pathway

In a journey to which we bear witness.

You have come to the end of a pathway

That is barred with a gate and a door.

May this door open swiftly and silently.

May this gate give you a moment’s grace

In which to rest your spirit before you venture through.

We stand here with you, as your companions,

As your family, for you are beloved.

But, for now, we must remain here.

We can not go with you to this old land.

Not yet.

For you will see the Ancestors.

You will see the Beloved Dead.

You will walk among the Divine Beings

That guide and nurture us all.

You go to dwell in the lands

Of summer and of apples

where we dance

forever youthful, forever free.

We can hear the music in the mist

The drums that echo our sad hearts.

We can see your bright eyes and your smile.

And so we open the gate.

We push back the door.

We hold the gate open.

We glance through the doorway,

And with love and grief and wonder

We watch you walk through.

Hail the Traveler!

All those remembered in love, in honor,

Live on.

Farewell, o best loved,

O fairest,

Farewell

Thanks to H. Byron Ballard

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The first female medical college, and the first African American doctor, Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumper