TRIBUTE TO SALLY JOHNSON

Saturday morning, September 12, 2009, Sally Johnson said goodbye to this world and began her journey into the world of spirit. Friends for almost three decades, Sally and I have woven in and out of contact over the thirty years, but most recently, by virture of Facebook, our connection has been strong and very special.

One of the first of many powerful and inspiring women I met when I moved to Ohio from New Orleans, Sally was a young mom of three active, energetic and highly talented, creative children. Her husband at the time worked as a glassblower, and he and Sally lived on a small farm in our area. One of my first memories of Sally is of a barn dance out at her and Doug's farm - - a birthday celebration for a mutual friend's birthday. When I close my eyes, I can see the beautiful birthday cake Sally decorated with sweet-pea flowers for Cathy and her dancing with each of her children all night long as the moon shone through the slats in the barn siding. Oh, how they loved their mom!

Sally was a force of nature...a founding member of the Dumb Club, a true back-to-the-earth, tofu-making, hippie mom who set the bar for me as the mom I wanted to emmulate when it became my time for children. She birthed her children at home and attended many, many other women who chose to do the same. I am touched by the number of younger adults now who now honor her for being with their moms at their respective births. Sally always, always, always, advocated for women and kids and the Earth...Thanks to Sally Johnson's efforts there is a rape hot-line in Marietta for women in crisis.

Artsy, creative, funny, sarcastic and at times cynical and opinionated, Sally's path was not always easy, but she unfailingly came out on top, whether it be from the throes of divorces or battling a chronic leukemia that has reared its nasty head in her life for the past few years. Her love of the mountains of southwest Virginia and her grandson, Max, defined her truest inspirations and became the topic of most of our recent conversations. I treasure our emails in which she talked about both.

Recently Sally turned 60 and spent a week at the beach with her family in celebration. AS I understand, not long after their return from this special vacation, her body again began to need attention. Blood and platelet transfusions did not spur her marrow to take hold again, and she weakened steadily and quickly. Appropriately, her family was with her as she took her final exhale last Saturday.....

I downloaded the above photos from Facebook...Sally in the mountains....Sally with her grandson....It's been hard to veer my thoughts away from her passage, but when I went on a walk yesterday through my fields, as the sun shone, as the butterflies savored the last of summer's nectars, and as the crows and hawks called in the distance, I felt her presence strongly...peaceful and serene...

Goodbye to an amazing woman.....godspeed, my friend....