The Wall

As I got dressed this morning, I listened to Scott Simon on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, as I try to every Saturday morning when I'm home. The final interview, which aired just before 10 a.m., was with Rosanne Cash, about her new CD, Black Cadillac. She wrote the songs for this release during the two-year period during which her father, mother and step-mother all died.

I like Rosanne Cash's music, and I think I'll probably purchase this CD. Beyond that, though, I found myself moved by the conversation. The real emotion, the lingering grief that she clearly feels...by the end of the piece, I was crying.

There was this insight, from Rosanne:

"It's an odd feeling to become the wall between death and the generation behind you, between my children, you know... It's comforting to feel the wall ahead of you, with your parents, and when they're gone and you're the wall..."

Then the piece closes with a recording of Johnny Cash's voice, saying, "Roseanne, Roseanne..." and Roseanne's child's voice responding, "Bye, bye, bye."

I saw the movie I Walk the Line on Thanksgiving Day, with Myrna, during my Utah visit a couple months ago. I always associate Johnny Cash with my dad, and my childhood, and Myrna even commented to me, before knowing this, that she's always thought my dad looks a little like Johnny Cash.

I'm grateful that my parents are still The Wall. May that continue to be so for many years to come.