Not Forgetting

We left Salt Lake City early on Sept 11th. We were heading to Great Bend, Kansas to the Shafer Gallery for a concert on Sept 12th. After several hours of early morning driving we got a phone call from my mom. It was sketchy. She only said that our country was under attack and New York had been the spot of the first attack. We were deep in the Rocky Mountains and had no service at all. I couldn't call my mom back, we couldn't get any stations on the radio. We drove a couple more hours just wondering what the hell was going on. Finally, in the early afternoon we found a small town, got gas and found a restaurant open. On the TV they played over and over the footage of the carnage at the twin towers. Everyone around us was in shock. We ate, got back in the car. We drove in silence the first hour. After awhile we talked about what we could do to help. The album 'Heal' was conceived on that day as we traveled and felt the great loss and pain of our fellow citizens. We also began plans for our first Mending Medicine Retreat.
As we stopped for the night, lucky to score the last room in a small town, we contemplated; should our show go on the next evening? After calling the college and concert promoter we made the decision to go through with the concert. It was such an amazing evening of healing that we gained a much greater appreciation of our vision for our music and life. That two day journey, that 21 hours on the road, became a turning point for us. After 9/11, there became a point to the trajectory of our music touring. We had been set forth to bring a healing balm into a hurting world. I can only imagine how many others turned their lives toward love after that tremendous day of hate. The light always shines brighter than the darkness. The love is a mountain, the hate is a flea. We remember this day each year and we let it turn our compassionate light on high beam.

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