Beacon
©2012 Craig Ashby
Digital Photograph

Beacon is a shot of the chandelier from The Beacon Theater on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. A great old theater we went to for a Dead Can Dance show.

Brendan and Lisa knocked it out of the park. All the faves played in the most civilized setting with absolutely no brushes with New York entitlement. Overall a great show full of joy and tears.

Ernie and I had recently lost our cat Ma’am. A horrible ordeal that resulted in having to have her euthanized. To this day I still think of her and ponder our relationship.

We found her on the street about a year before 9-11. Begging for entry and friendly. We never knew where she came from or what her real name was. So we just gave her Southern respect and called her Ma’am. Ma am.

I know I have cried as much for her as I did the loss of my own mother. Sobbing vomitous crying. So many mixed emotions during that ordeal. So much anger and regret.

Let me say that whenever people diminish the death of a pet, I look down on them. They aren’t like family. It isn’t simile time. She was better family than I was born with.

So we went to the Dead Can Dance show knowing we were processing this. And it helped. Hence the title Beacon.