2013.08.11 19:00 - The Night of the Meteors

The Guardian for this meeting was Calvino Rabeni. The comments are by Calvino Rabeni.

Bruce Mowbray: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSR1L9IN03g
(listening)

Calvino Rabeni: The Night of the Meteors - A night that is witness to history

Bruce Mowbray: Yes, this is a special night for me.
Bruce Mowbray: Twenty years ago today,
Bruce Mowbray: I buried my mother's ashes.
Bruce Mowbray: at her request.
Bruce Mowbray: She died on the summer solstice,
Bruce Mowbray: and I buried her ashes north of the farm
Bruce Mowbray: 20 years ago today.
Bruce Mowbray: Because she loved the Persiods.
Bruce Mowbray: The previous year,
Bruce Mowbray: she had come to Columbus for the Ameri-flora celebration.
Bruce Mowbray: and we came to the farm by way of the cemetery..
Bruce Mowbray: where my father is buried.
Bruce Mowbray: and she gave me very specific instructions about what to do with her ashes.
Bruce Mowbray: At the time I was very embarrassed by that.
Bruce Mowbray: but a year later, I was so grateful to her for having told me.
Bruce Mowbray: 20 years ago today, that was.
Bruce Mowbray: Good to hear that the smoke has cleared.
Calvino Rabeni: an effective meaningful ritual
Bruce Mowbray: It was, yes.
Bruce Mowbray: It was sort of funny, actually.
Bruce Mowbray: I didn't realize I could just go to the cemetery and dig a hole there!
Bruce Mowbray: ;-)
Calvino Rabeni: ?
Bruce Mowbray: I called the funeral director and asked his permission.
Bruce Mowbray: heh!
Bruce Mowbray: and he said, "You've got a shovel, don't you?!
Calvino Rabeni: he said... anyone can dig there?
--BELL--

Bruce Mowbray: yeppers.
Bruce Mowbray: So, I took the myrtle wood box with her ashes in it, and the shovel, and my camera. . .
Bruce Mowbray: and I took photos to send to my brother and sister.
Bruce Mowbray: It was a good closure.
Bruce Mowbray: a completion of a circle.
Bruce Mowbray: Just me.... and the empty cemetery.
Calvino Rabeni: you chose the spot... or she did?
Bruce Mowbray: When my father died,
Bruce Mowbray: in 1961....
Bruce Mowbray: (I was only 19)...
Bruce Mowbray: we bought two identical tombstones.
Bruce Mowbray: so, we knew all along where she would have her ashes put.
Bruce Mowbray: It was then up to me to find the engraver..
Bruce Mowbray: and see to it that the markings on her stone were identifacal (the font, I mean)
Bruce Mowbray: to dad's.
Bruce Mowbray: They were so much alike,
Bruce Mowbray: they could have both been done on the same day.
Bruce Mowbray: Amazing.
Bruce Mowbray: So, that's how it went.
Bruce Mowbray: Perfect.
Calvino Rabeni: you placed the stone too...?
Bruce Mowbray: No.
Bruce Mowbray: The two stones were place there in 1961.
Bruce Mowbray: (I was a sophomore in college in Dallas.
Bruce Mowbray: placed there*
Bruce Mowbray: (a regular cemetery....)
Bruce Mowbray: I have five generations of my family buried there.
Bruce Mowbray: The first one of our clan was given the land in George Washington's Will.
Calvino Rabeni: goes way back in the state
Bruce Mowbray: He was one of three physicians present at Washington's death...
Bruce Mowbray: Friday December the 13th, 1799.
Bruce Mowbray: Had he lived two weeks longer,
Bruce Mowbray: he would have seen the 19th Century.
Bruce Mowbray: He didn't settle here, but his son did,
Bruce Mowbray: and the road was named after him,
Bruce Mowbray: because he was the first person to live there.
Calvino Rabeni: Pioneer?
Bruce Mowbray: Washington had priviledges of giving away land in the Virginia Military Reservation...
Bruce Mowbray: which is where i now live.
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, sort of a pioneer,
Bruce Mowbray: although I've never thought of it like that.
Calvino Rabeni: not in Virginia
Bruce Mowbray: I guess he really WAS a pioneer!!
Bruce Mowbray: ;-)
Bruce Mowbray: No..
Calvino Rabeni: :)
Bruce Mowbray: This was reserved land,
Bruce Mowbray: for payment to soldiers from Virginia
Bruce Mowbray: who had fought in the Revolutionary War.
Bruce Mowbray: So, Washington gave 150 acres to each of his personal physicians.
Bruce Mowbray: I did a research paper on it when I was an undergrad.
Bruce Mowbray: IO think it's time to look for meteorz.
Bruce Mowbray: meteors.
Bruce Mowbray: Thank you for this sharing, Cal.
Calvino Rabeni: hope you see colored ones!
Bruce Mowbray: ;-)
Bruce Mowbray: I do too!
Calvino Rabeni: thank you, Bruce
Bruce Mowbray: Peace.
Calvino Rabeni: and for reminding me of the meteors
Calvino Rabeni: bye for now!