"The farther you reach, the more that you touch..."

"The more that you see,
The less that you know.
The less that you know,
The more that you yearn.
The more that you yearn,
The higher you climb.

The farther you reach,
The more that you touch.
The more that you touch,
The fuller you feel.
The fuller you feel,
The less that you need.
The less that you need,
The farther you reach..."

News of Dan Fogelberg's passing reached me early this morning.  My heart goes out to his wife Jean and to his precious family and closest friends.  His music has comforted me, encouraged me, and provided a soundtrack for many of my life's most poignant moments.

In February I will make my next trip "home" to Colorado's Arkansas Valley.  I will drive over Kenosha Pass and through the high country expanse of South Park with Fogelberg's "High Country Snows" at full volume.  I will weep. 

I know that I have quoted Carly Simon's "Life is Immortal" before, but today it seems especially relevant:

"Life is immortal
and Love is eternal
and death is only a horizon
and the horizon is nothing
save the limit of our sight…"

The limit of our sight, not the limit of our loved one's life.  I can just imagine Dan climbing higher and higher toward the summit of one of his beloved Rocky Mountains…turning to us and waving before cresting the peak. 

So today I will pop High Country Snows, Twin Sons of Different Mothers, or River of Souls into the CD player, I will lean into the wind that blows down from the mountains and across the prairie…sending new snow swirling around my ankles…and I will smile.  How long have his fans in that "next" valley been waiting for a live performance.  How many new listeners will discover this gentle troubadour who,

"gave to me
a gift I know
I never can repay"

Thank you Dan...
     "for your music and your stories from the road",
Kate

Here are links to other Fogelberg-inspired posts:

A Place that I Know

The Higher you Climb

Part of the Plan

There's a Song in the heart of a Woman

I'm sure there will be more...