Michele's Memorial

In 2018 my cousin Michele MacKinnon Elliott died and a significant part of that side of the family gathered for the memorial service and a social gathering at her daughter's house in northeast Portland, Oregon.  During the service various musical selections were played, some of which raised questions in our (Barb's and my) minds.  "The Pretender" by Jackson Brown was the most interesting but it turned out to be a favorite of her husband, maybe.  I liked "Sweet Caroline", especially when many of those present joined in and sang along for the refrain.

As I now re-listen to "The Pretender" I realize how appropriate it is for a memorial service, especially the opening lyrics.  Then I see the second cut on the album, parts of which is the actual version we heard at the service.  Both cuts together are the music one only hears with the album at home - never on the radio and certainly never at the memorial service.  I could see and feel the pain in her husband at the memorial reception.  We carry on but the pain remains.

 
I loved Michele among the people of this world and among my cousins.  Not inappropriately, of course, but as someone who was a pillar in her universe and who certainly never deserved to live as hard a life as she had.   I had a special bond with her since we shared a love of books and my love of books was sufficiently indiscriminate to include the romance novels that were her favorites.  I can remember knocking off a couple of her romance novels at Crooked River during the time we spent there.  Her mother made a point of having me join them more than once on those weekend trips to their cabin at Crooked River.

I can see her in both of her daughters, each in a different way.

Memories...

I could write endlessly about her life and how she was related to me and how I saw her.  Much of the relevance of that falls away with the death of her parents and the lessening of the common roots reaching back to Hopkinton, MA.  The relevance remains for me but the people reading this blog entry are unlikely to care.