Outside my window in the August heat, the highway blurs by, liquid. As CDs rotate through the player, I’m suddenly alert at the first strains of “Far-Side Banks of Jordan,” a song that always makes me think of my parents. Dad, who, I suddenly realize, died ten years ago next week, Mom, a year ago this one.
In the song, a man anticipates his imminent death. He promises that he’ll wait for his lifelong love on the Far-Side Banks of Jordan until they can enter paradise together.
Read the complete article by Dr. Nancy McCabe, originally published at Entropy Magazine.
Dr. Nancy McCabe directs the creative and professional writing program at Pitt-Bradford and has advised Baily’s Beads for 20 years. She is the author of six books, most recently Can This Marriage Be Saved? A Memoir, due out in paperback and Audible Audiobook in summer 2021. She is a recipient of the Pushcart Prize and her work has made annual notable lists eight times in Best American Essays and Best American Nonrequired Reading. Her website is www.nancymccabe.net.