Letting go...

Me playing Dad's Mason & Hamlin. Where will it go... I have no room for it in my apartment...

Dear friends,​

So much gratitude to all of you for listening, reading, and supporting this year. There are no words to adequately express my appreciation. It means everything to me. 

Even for a GHOSTE, this has been a metaphysical and an existential year of self-affirmation, coming to terms with mortality, letting go and stepping up. For over a decade I have been a caregiver to my father as he became physically and mentally crippled by Parkinson's. It seemed he would survive anything. He held on for so long with so little. However, on the morning of November 22 he stopped breathing.  

It has been a time to pack up, give away and say goodbye. And because my father rented his apartment, quickly. 

It's heart-wrenching. But it's also an opportunity. 

We take nothing with us. Any of us. So, HOHOHO and Marie Kondo all the way. If it doesn't bring you joy, out it goes. And when you live in an NYC apartment, that selection process is draconian. I've been so busy, I've hardly grieved, and I'm afraid that when it's all done I may fall to pieces.

Music is on hold. That hurts too.  

But I want to take a moment to say that I love you. And I wish you all the LOVE and LIGHT your heart can hold in whatever form of celebration that takes. Life is beautiful and brief. Look up. Look at the person next to you. Pay attention. There is beauty everywhere. Reach out. Be kind. It matters. You matter.

Looking forward to 2020. May there be music! There will be.

Happy New Year!!!!!!

xox

JB the GHOSTE

Photos of lovely strangers helping to clear out Dad's stuff