Benny's World

Monday, July 03, 2017

Another 4th of July Brings Memories of Elizabeth Edwards

Yesterday I opened my personal e-mail account, and it was from 123greetings, reminding me to send a card to Elizabeth Edwards on July 3rd, since it is her birthday.  I've long forgotten how I set up that alert since Elizabeth hasn't been been with us in nearly 7 years.

I met Elizabeth via her spouse's political blogs.  She was likely the first political spouse to be active in the blogosphere.   She and John were way ahead of their time, setting up podcasts, discussions every month about the lastest hot buttons in Congress or places where John was going to promote candidates running for Congress.  They also served as vehicle for John to talk about fighting for those in poverty.

Podcasts are now common place; I've often wondered why or how they surged in the past couple of years they've mushroomed, with Ezra Klein at Vox; David Axelrod, former consultant to both John Edwards and Barack Obama in their various campaigns for the presidency; and others who have internet shows that are recorded as podcasts.  The difference between 2005 and now is that one can see the time stamps better when wishing to replay a particular segment.

I don't have copies anymore of the Edwards' podcasts as they were stored on iTunes, and one day, I decided to sweep them out as I didn't have a lot of space on my iTunes for my phone, and second, the mp3 had already morphed into mp4, so it wasn't easy to listen to them anymore.

Recently though, someone on Facebook posted this in memorium video compiled by Elizabeth's high school friends.    It's a lovely tribute to her.   I hope others will enjoy it as much as I did, even though it's just a tad sad that's she's not here on earth, having fun with her children, and now grandchild Wade.  (Wade is Cate's son, born last summer).


Elizabeth A. Edwards - In Memoriam from Tom Barry on Vimeo.

I'm reminded as well that the inspiration of this blog, Benny, my cat, is gone as well. Assisted by our vet, he went to Rainbow Bridge on December 9th, a little over 6 years when Elizabeth died. At the time, I could not pen a post about his passing because it was too painful. I still feel tender about it.





I also lost my brother 3 years ago.  Another death that I'm still processing. 

Elton John's first hit on the airwaves was "Your Song" and the best lyric from it is "How wonderful life is while you're in the world."




 Both Elizabeth and Benny were wonderful beings to have known. My brother was the most adventuresome and he had a great life.  I miss him too. I hear music all of the time that keeps him on my shoulders, just there are pictures of Benny in my office.

4th of July also brings another year of life for me. But it's not just about me. Happy birthday to all of us in the US.