Post
by bkmccalla » Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:50 pm
i'm in the sierra mountains of california to help some friends who just had a new baby. his name is spirit rhythm river gabriel and he was born on july 1st. it's been a crazy several days, but i wanted to tell his story as it relates to leonard.
cheyenne started to go into labor on tuesday evening and since they live half an hour from town and were having the home (water) birth in town, i was timing the contractions and when i realized how close they were, suggested it was time to head for town and get the show on the road.
we jumped in the car, cheyenne, her 97-year-old mother-in-law, doi, and of course, me (dad following in another car). since we were in my car and i was driving, cheyenne said to me, "i know there's good music in your car. can we listen to some so i can sing and try to think of something other than the pain?" i responded, "well, i'm sorry, you're so much younger [she just turned 27 a few days before her baby was born] than me and you've probably never listened to the gentleman i have in all six slots of my car's CD changer, but he's ALL I'VE GOT. i love him, he's my favorite, but he's probably not your cup of tea." she replied, "who is it?" to which i responded, "have you ever heard of leonard cohen?" and she said, "oh god, i love him. turn him on." and so we drove down the windy, twisty mountain roads with cheyenne and me singing his greatest hits and she knew every word to every song and so i started to cry because it was so beautiful, this beautiful young native american woman swaying in the back seat with her eyes closed, singing along with leonard, knowing every word, and she started to cry too. we drove all the way to town, singing, crying, her contractions helped immeasurably by her love for leonard's music.
it was incredible, the whole thing, especially the birth, and i will never forget it as long as i live, but the memory i carry closest to my heart is of cheyenne singing leonard's songs on the way to spirit's birth. when we got to the home where we were having the birth she put her arms around me and said, "thank you so much for that gift of leonard's music, it helped me so much. there were several contractions i barely felt because i was so happy singing along..." we continued to listen to leonard through the night, interspersed with african folk music and cuban music and native american flute music, but leonard had pride of place. and he made all the difference. like he always does.
ps: happy birthday, your holiness, dalai lama. your blessing cord also helped the birth process immeasurably. thuk je che.
ppss: when the morning light dawned, the morning of the birth, outside the window above the birthing tank was a tree (illumined from behind by the rising sun) bedecked with trumpet vines (campsis radicans!) that was absolutely aswarm with hummingbirds!!!
bonnie mccalla (former president, san francisco bay area friends of tibet)
Last edited by
bkmccalla on Mon Jul 06, 2009 11:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
1970, 1983, 1988, 1993/Lyon July 9/Bruges July 10/Amsterdam July 12/Lisbon July 19/Nice July 22/Lucca July 27/Rome July 28/Athens July 30/Beacon February 19/Oakland April 13, 14, 15/Kingston May 22/London May 24/Ottawa May 25, 26/Red Rocks June 4/Las Vegas November 12/San Jose November 13/Las Vegas December 2011 x2/San Jose November 2012/Oakland March 2, 3 2013...i've obviously lost my mind...
. Of course, my husband put in a song and we got to croakie 
'Everybody Knows 
. Nobody does it like LC 
.
~ she was accompanied by an unidentified, single instrument [I'm not so good at those identifications] and built, but never to a frenetic pace or anything... what was so outstanding and beautiful to me was that it was the most distinctly Jewish-sounding cover I've ever heard of this song. By the end, it was sounding like a song that might be played and danced to a bar mitzvah. Such an unexpected treat to just be able to sit here and listen... though, by the end, I was wanting to dance.
