Lay My Burden Down

Kids do the darnedest  things.  Tonight when I got done teaching Calvin wanted to show me a computer video project he was working on.  He pulls up a slide show of photos he took on his camera of my Grandma Hope's house after we had it all cleaned out and before we left and locked the door.  He took a picture of every empty room and every sidewalk square.  Every out building on the farm. The pictures are dated 5-29-10.

I was completely overcome.  I didn't even know he had taken these photos.  Each empty room was a childhood of memories for me.  They weren't empty then.  They were filled to the brim with baskets and quilts and books and little tumblers of pens and fingernail files.  It all comes flooding back.  My grandma passed away last December.  Even though she was over 90 and it was a normal kind of grief, it is still so close under the surface.  Calvin looks at me tearing up and says, "you were there when you were little too."

To top it all off--he paired the images with an Alison Krauss song--Lay My Burden Down.

Gonna lay my burden down

Gonna lay my body in the ground

Cold clay against my skin

But I don't care at all. . . 

When I get to the other side

I'll put your picture way up high

But I'm not coming back to you

It's just too far. . . 

When I sleep the angels sing

But I cannot hear a thing

Eyes closed

Dreaming of better days gone by

When I wake the trumpets play

And I'm standing at the gates

Fall down in joy

I know my race has just been run. . . 

Kids do the darnedest things.  And they process their own grief in their own time.  I don't know if Calvin knew how profound his project was.  At least it was to me.


Here is my first attempt at a youtube link: (Calvin taught me this too. . . )
Alison Krauss--Lay My Burden Down