Pumpkin & Pomegranate

I am taking a moment out to share something personal and non-food related with you all. We are all multifaceted individuals, and sometimes you need to show other sides. I feel like this is the time for one of them. Today marks the 29th anniversary of the day John Lennon was killed. I was only 9 months old at the time, but I was a bit of an odd child when I was young (not that I ever grew out of it). In my youth I didn’t listen to pop music of the times, I listened to “oldies”. The Beatles were my favorite and so John’s presence was always felt in my life even though by the time I had heard of him he had already left the earth. It wasn’t just his music either, his desire for world peace was pure and beautiful and I have always looked up to both John and Yoko for their peace work. When I was ten or eleven my father gave me a Christmas present that was one of my most favorite presents ever received. My father had done some work for someone who was a photographer and he paid my father in barter. Specifically a framed photograph of John and Yoko that was an original and not one that was ever mass printed. It was my most prized possession that had any monetary value. Unfortunately when I moved to Seattle in 2006 nearly all my belongings were lost, including that photo. I am devastated again when I think about it.

The most significant event in my life is also tied to John Lennon in a way. in 2000 my little sister was killed in an automobile accident. She was one month away from turning 16. I asked for John Lennon’s song Imagine to be played at her memorial service. I don’t know for certain what happens to our essence or our souls after we die, but I like to think that we carry on in energy form somehow. I also like to think that my sister and John are looking down on all of us, rooting for us to grow towards peace and love.

Yoko Ono’s Memories of John and an Affirmation for Planet Earth