My dears, One thing I shared at Val’s memorial on Saturday was this very abridged list of just a few of the things I learned from Val, or that we learned together. *** I spent fifteen years in the orbit of Val Garrison, friend of my heart. I learned a lot Continue Reading
love
a surprise against the light
My garden is full of rocks. They come from Montana, from Mexico, from Rhode Island, Texas, Argentina and New Zealand. They come from the Columbia Gorge and Alaska and the Black Rock Desert. There are knuckly geodes from my home in southern Indiana. There are glossy agates from the California coast. Continue Reading
A brief history of the life of Val Garrison
Portland, OR. 5/25/13 — The ineffable and extraordinary Valerie Louise Garrison died peacefully on Sunday, May 19, 2013, in Portland, Oregon, in the company of many of those who love her. Val filled her 44 years with creativity, curiosity, love and delight. She relished life, and in her hands a Continue Reading
The Salvation Tree
This magical tree portal on the top of Mount Tabor was one of Val’s favorite spots in town. When you walk between the trees it always feels as though you might end up… anywhere. Val always loved climbing Mount Tabor to see out over the city, and when things were Continue Reading
blaze
My dears, I want you to know that Val’s passing was beautiful. We had a few hours to whisper our secrets and our love to her once more as she slipped deeper and deeper into herself. Some of the great many who love her gathered quietly ’round, sitting on the Continue Reading
flight
My friends, She is gone.
this terrible feast
i am thinking now of saying goodbye. how to say goodbye. to my mother. trapped in her body. mouth open, eyes glazed and fixed. staring. and her odd ungated voice, robbed of consonants. her dry uncooperative tongue. i tell her i love her. and then i tell her, under my Continue Reading
solitude & ducklings
Dears, my sister Abby has been visiting and making life good, so I haven’t updated you in a while. This is just a quick note to say we are all still here. Val is very tired and weak these days, often not leaving her bedroom, but now and then she Continue Reading
ways to be home
Dear ones, How shall we talk about this? What do I say? Everything changes so quickly and at once so slowly, dreamlike. We are still here, but we are inexorably changing. For so long I have known none of us would get out of this alive. And I knew in Continue Reading
Betty’s letter
Val’s mom Betty married her second husband, Val’s father Miles, in 1963. They spent their summers in northwestern Montana on the cattle ranch where Miles’ parents had lived since 1938. In 1967 (two years before Val was born) Betty wrote a letter to her younger sister Lois, describing her delight in summer Continue Reading