December 7th
Charleston: I honor you
“I honor you. I honor you for who you are and for what you have done. You did not become the person you are without effort. You have weathered many storms and seen many changes. You have kept going when others might have given up. You have lived your life like an artist, creating what you did not have, dreaming what you could not see. And in so doing, you have touched many other lives.
You have brought your share of goodness into the world. You have helped more than one person when they needed you. I honor you for walking with integrity, for making hope real, and for being who you have become. I honor you.”—Bishop Steven Charleston, Facebook Page.
December 7th
This week, we remembered December 7th, the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It was also the anniversary of the day I stopped smoking 46 years ago. That was the day of my grandfather Whaley’s funeral in 1979.
He taught me the most about unconditional love. I wanted to honor him and knew he disliked my smoking. His mother died when he was seven years old of lung disease (Tuberculosis). My grandfather taught me about love when he was alive, and saved my life when he died. My younger brother and mother died of complications from smoking, and I could so easily have done the same.
Several years ago, I honored my grandfather and his mother when my husband and daughter helped me trek to my great-grandmother’s grave in an isolated graveyard in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was not an easy adventure.
First, we entered the Park near Gatlinburg, went over one small bridge on a dirt road, then an even smaller bridge, parked on another unpaved road with a chain across it, and walked a half-mile on an uneven path with roots crisscrossing it until we came to the secret, well-kept cemetery, a cathedral-like open space framed by a canopy of trees.
We later learned this was the Whaley-Plemmons Cemetery in Greenbrier, where a once-busy mountain community of schools, churches, and homes once stood.
My experience with the grief recovery group, Walking the Mourner’s Path, teaches me that honoring those you love who have died is one of the most significant ways of healing. So, today, I do what others have taught me: celebrate an important person in my life that I loved and honor someone he loved.
You can learn more about my grandfather in my recent book, Letters from my Grandfather: A History of Two Decades of Unconditional Love, available on Amazon. Proceeds from the sale of the $20 book go to Camp Mitchell. My grandfather wrote to me every week while I was away at school. The book contains some of his letters, and my response to them now, 50 to 60 years later. It is a response to love outside of time by both of us.
Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/
