— Find The River by REM
Dedicated to my padrino, Jorge Murillo.
For the longest time, I’ve been a fan of this one particular song from REM. The melody, the sound, the nostalgia and dare I say, the sadness it invokes appeals to me. The accompanying lyrics along with the music help me conjure images of life in transition, of phases moving and shifting, of life doing what it does best; change and continue. Like a river, from it’s birth point and growth there after that always flows and changes in direction until it reaches its final destination, the open sea. In my eyes, the symbology of life itself.
My Godfather passed away this morning, July 20th. At the moment I wrote this, I was sitting at La Guardia airport on my way back home to Los Angeles from a work trip. REM’s song has played now several times, and my nostalgia and memories of my padrino come to me; and the passage of time again has sent me its reminder. The flow of life. Once a joyful, happy, smiling, sweet and loving man, today this world will no longer be embraced by this wonderful human being. It’s very sad, indeed, for those of us who remain to come to this conclusion that his life has reached its natural end and that the passage of time is here again, in front of us, reminding us once more our limited time on earth. It is a given that our memories of him will continue with us all until the passage of time moves us along the flow of life someday. But it’s still hard to admit he’s gone. We knew this was coming, and we knew his passing would release him from the horrible pain he was in in his final days. And yet still, no one wants to ever say goodbye to those you love. But the passage of time is inevitable. The river must flow to it’s final destination.
Con mucho dolor pero con gran cariño, te doy gracias por todo lo que los distes querido padrino. Nunca olvidaré tu sonrisa, tu dulzura y tu modo de ser. Que Dios te lleve a la gloria que tanto te mereces.
