Solomon’s Tribute 7/11/77 – 1/31/12

This is the evening that I find difficult every year. Because it is  now early afternoon in Bangkok the same time that marked the last moments of your life, Solomon — January 31, 2012. Yet, after I write this and put in the pictures, everything starts to shine with your light. When I’m finished, I can sleep well.  This is a celebration and Remembrance.

---

Love Sonnet XCIV ~ by Pablo Neruda 

If I die, survive me with such force

That you waken the furies of the pallid and the cold,

From south to south lift your indelible eyes,

From sun to sun dream through your singing mouth.

I don’t want your laughter or your steps to waver,

I don’t want my heritage of joy to die….

And these words came to me soon after you left us, Solomon.

Take me with you, Mom, into your life, and what you do. Let me bring the balance and glide of boarding into the continual challenge of your everyday life. And please keep loving Nicole…..  

My gift to YOU from all of us who knew you is to live the message.

I recently re-read an email you wrote May 20, 2004 after finding the grave of your great-great grandfather Salomon Salomon in Germany.

“…I decided to be adventurous and jump on a train to the town of Langenfeld without any prior inquiry… When I got off the train I started walking. It turned out to be down a long footpath. And just when I thought I was lost, I happened upon it, a very small cemetery, not more than 30 gravestones. I went to the door and it was locked, so I waited until the coast was clear and jumped the fence. I had come this far, so I couldn’t be stopped now… Once inside it was sort of secluded. I walked in and immediately found the gravestone. (It looks very different than the others). I sat for 15-20 minutes and meditated on the spot. Afterwards I felt more in touch with my German heritage and family history. I return to Dusseldorf tomorrow to play a few more gigs this weekend then its back to SF on Wednesday… Hope you are well, Much Love…”

I found this photo of you, Solomon and your niece, Oona. She is going on 8 now and is skiing at Tahoe with  Ammon, Laura and her sister, Maeve, as I write this. I’m sure at some point she’ll be taking up snowboarding with the intoxicating “balance and glide.” Maeve is going on 5. You never knew her. Here they are eating ice cream.

Also the delightful Samantha. We love her and see her and Nicole quite often. Ryan and Nicole are living full and exciting lives. Here she is with “Baba.” She just learned to say his name! This was the bell at the end of the meditation celebrating your life the other night.

I wish you were here to see Golden State Warriors Basketball. Four of them made the all-stars! Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson. Your dad and I have been watching this glorious team win almost all the games. I picture you DJ’ing as you did and even getting us into a game or two, now that the tickets cost much more than they did when you were there like this picture from your booth.

Tomorrow Girija and I will visit the bench ~ This is the bench the Brilliants and Kahns dedicated to you and Jon Brilliant, out where the water-birds and cattails are. Dad is in Germany, landing in Frankfurt, then Berlin in a few hours. He sends his love. We miss you and celebrate your extraordinary life, now and always. With love from Mom

<>  <>   <><   <><

Remembering Solomon 2016

SOLOMON KAHN & JON BRILLIANT ~ BRINGERS OF JOY!

So many of us love and think about you every day.  Happy 39^th birthday Solomon! You brought so much fun and wisdom and joy into the world and our lives. It is astounding how much you lived in 34 years. You are missed, but live on in each of us.

Solomon and his dad, Shabda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday we celebrated your life with a windy visit to the new bench that sits next to a tiny bird lake in Marin. It has a view of Mount Tam and the East Bay in the far distance. Sun sets in the hills and is reflected here in front of the bench. The water is mostly used by cormorants and pelicans now, with a tribe of Canadian Geese claiming the North-East side. The swans are in the next lake.

Celebrating at the bench
July 10, 2016

The idea of the bench with a plaque came during my luncheon visits with my close friend Girija Brilliant. Girija’s son, Jon died a year before Solomon ~ and magical connections have occurred bringing the two (who never knew each other) together.

Jon Brilliant and Solomon Kahn.

Our favorite was this photo of two inscriptions on a beam at the large temple in Burningman several years ago. A friend of Jon’s took the picture and by chance there was an inscription to Solomon by an unrelated person inches above Jon’s name. Understand— there are over 1,000 messages written in this place every year, then offered to the fire. So we decided to create a bench in honor of our two sons. Las Gallinas Water District land provided the place, and last week the plaque was finished. Here’s to Jon and Solomon!

The Brilliant Family: Larry, Jon, Iris, Girija, and Joe

On this day of CELEBRATION of SOLOMON’S LIFE I am grateful for the friendships of those who joined us, and those like Nicole, Ryan and Samantha Rose, Ean Golden, The Lewis, Cherners, Lama Palden and many of Solomon’s close friends who we not there, but may visit the bench another time. Turn left after the railroad tracks at the end of Smith Ranch Road. Park in the small lot at the end, cross the bridge and walk until you see the BENCH at the second fork in the road!

 

In honor of Solomon’s birthday, please read this stunningly beautiful tribute from his dear friend Leila:

There are no words to describe how much I miss Solomon in my life. For days now, leading up to his birthday I have been thinking of him, remembering his smile and steady spirit, his ability to make us all feel at home with ourselves because he appeared to feel at home with himself. I remember the time we shared and I am forever honored, humbled and grateful to have had his friendship. And though his spirit still informs my life, and so in some ways he is still present for me, it doesn’t solve the problem of me missing his voice at the other end of the phone, or yearning to see his smile one more time, or feeling a sense of comfort to have a friend nearby who when in his company things just always felt okay.

 Thinking of you all today, on this special day. How blessed we are to be alive. To know each other. And to dance this dance of life, where past informs present and present is all that is true. My work is to get out of my head and into a more heart centered and trusting way of living, where all things do not need reason or explanation… its all play in the field of love.

I love you. Am grateful for each of you.

 In memory of Solomon. May his soul be free and may his light shine bright! And may we dance this dance saying YES to all things that return us to love.  L.

WE LOVE YOU SOLOMON!!

Celebrating Solomon ~ Four Years

Solomon Kahn left us on January 31, 2012. He lives vividly in the light on the faces of his family and friends. I take him with me on all adventures. Love you, Solomon!

Nicole and baby Samantha Rose

Nicole has gone on with her life, mothering and leading yoga classes, parenting baby Samantha Rose with Ryan Lucero. Here is Sam wearing a warrior’s baby suit as the Golden State Warriors win another one. Solomon would have loved it! He was DJ for the Warriors for all those years before they were champions.

Nicole shared the other night how he would get home from DJ’ing at a club very late  and rise at 7:30 to go for a bike ride before breakfast. It seemed he had an enormous amount of living to squeeze into 34 years on this planet.

As the hours count down through my fog of sadness, I remember that it picks up in February. Every year at this time I write about my son Solomon’s life and I feel better just sharing sparkles from his complete and completed life with those who knew and love him.

On the trail where the BENCH will be sometime this spring

I’ve been looking for a place to install a bench with Solomon’s name on a plaque. After asking about Mount Tam and an ocean view, I understood dealing with the state and the park commission could take years. Then there’s the wetlands below Lucas Valley Road where Las Gallinas water treatment property has created three small lakes with walking trails.

Shabda and I go there often for the abundance of wildlife including ducks, geese, swans, egrets, night herons, hawks, swallows, pelicans, a coyote or two and otters. We can see Civic Center and Mt. Tam in the distance. There is a place with a couple of large rocks. That is where the bench will be. Not just to honor Solomon, Jon Brilliant’s name will be there too. A pilgrimage spot for friends of Solomon and Jon (who died in January 2011 of cancer.) In an extraordinary coincidence Solomon and Jon’s names were next to each other in different handwriting on a beam of the large wooden Temple at Burning Man a couple years ago. Jon’s mother, Girija, has become a close friend.

Sol and Jon at Burningman

This year Scott Kaiser shared a new story about inviting Solomon to surf off the Marin coast with him. This is a sport Sol did not engage in, but he had snowboarded with Scott and wake-boarded often. He was up for it. The day had really big waves. Scott said this was no day for learning to surf, but Solomon wanted to try. He had difficulty just getting beyond them. Scott gave Sol his wet suit—which was a bit tight, and a couple hours and many spills later it was shredded. Solomon refused to do anything but give this adventure his 100%.

Scott and his son Arun Solomon on the board…

As the mother of a thirteen-year-old, I remember seeing him refuse to stop at a swimming meet, even though it looked to me like his body could not go another stroke. He would never give up.

Solomon and good friend Sheikh Tijani

I brought a picture of Solomon to Ammon’s house this week. I showed it to Sol’s niece, Oona. She kept asking me to tell a story about Solomon. I thought of this part of a poem I wrote in the ‘90s:

When Solomon was twelve

He mentioned one night over spaghetti

That he found out mediocre was a real word.

Someone not in our family had used it.

He always thought his dad made it up…

I could tell her that when Solomon got his permit to drive with an adult, he wanted to drive in a rainstorm and I said no. Come on, mom, how am I going to learn to drive in a rain storm if I can’t practice in this one? (He could have been a lawyer) I said no again and he said: Why? I replied: Because I don’t FEEL like it is safe. He never let me off easy if he thought he was right. (I won’t tell Oona that story.) I can show her the picture of the last day she was with him. (She is now six years old) He carried her on his shoulders to the schoolyard Christmas day. He was wearing a paper crown.

Uncle Solomon and Oona Christmas, 2011

I end with a video that Sol would have loved. STEVIE WONDER CARPOOL KARAOKE. He opened for Stevie Wonder in 2011 at the Salesforce.com party sometime that year. He loved Stevie Wonder. Who doesn’t?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqrvm2XDvpQ

photo Solomon took at the Salesforce party

Solomon’s 38th Birthday, July 11

It’s been three and a half years since Solomon left us. Tomorrow, July 11, marks his 38^th year. Thinking about giving birth on that cool evening, with fog blowing pieces of cloud just above our valley, streaming East and North, as I labored in our room on Montecito Avenue, on the bed with the pale orange flowers. It was a quick easy delivery. Shabda sang to him.

Today, all those years later, I am in a kind of pre-labor moment — with my new book. Five years of writing poems. They are —54 of them— stapled and in my travel bag, awaiting a 7AM flight to Boston and a short flight to Martha’s Vineyard, for a manuscript conference, discussing what is next – editing, ideas beyond my desk, and that creative incubation, research, drinking cups of tea, printing out drafts.

Then New York City—Solomon would have loved this. The Wide Shore: A Journal of Global Women’s Poetry, where I have a poem in the current issue, has borrowed an (the?) events room at Poet’s House below Tribeca in Manhattan, for 6 women poets to read our poetry on Friday, July 17^th. I always dreamed of reading a poem about the first women of seventh century Arabia at Poet’s house in New York.

So this will be the birth of my work, made possible by Shabda’s enthusiastic support in all ways. Tomorrow, the date July 11^th, is full of so many memories of beloved Solomon, DJ Solomon, Solomon who inspired, led his family members and his many, many friends on continuous adventures outdoors and in clubs and halls. Celebrating life fully!

And BIRTH. Nicole and Ryan are expecting a little girl the beginning of October. We are all over-joyed. Solomon is too, I’m sure of it. Looking down from the clouds, smiling that gap-toothed grin. Happy Birthday, Sweetie.

Solomon in India years ago

DJ’ing in the Napa countryside

DJ’ing the DeYoung Museum, Fridays

Bangkok, February, 2012

Solomon— Three Years! 7/11/77 — 1/31/12

Three years ago today, I’d driven Shabda to the airport for a flight to India, and stopped in San Francisco to have lunch with Ammon. I bought a Hello Kitty watch while waiting for him, and remember regretting I hadn’t seen Solomon since Christmas. Solomon and his fiancé Nicole had arrived in Bangkok where he was being hosted as an Internetional DJ.

Solomon and Ryan beautiful tune!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXOOhmtDSkY

Solomon and Ryan

My family 2012. Our lives were about to change in deep and painful ways. Today, I am aware of the countdown to sometime late tonight, when 3 years ago, Solomon was killed in a car crash on a bridge in Bangkok. I look out my window at the Pacific ocean off the coast of Costa Rica and see two yellow-orange butterflies dancing in the trees where the Howler Monkeys were playing yesterday. I think of Matthew Dickman’s beautiful poem called “Grief.”

When grief comes to you as a purple gorilla/  you must count yourself lucky./  You must offer her what’s left/  of your dinner, the book you were trying to finish/ you must put aside / and make her a place to sit at the foot of your bed,…  She has been here before/and now

 I can recognize her gait/
as she approaches the house…<>

In the poem, she takes you in her arms and talks about the dead and those, like me, who are among the living.

I catch glimpses of Solomon today with his wonderful smile, the way he used to touch his nose with the tip of his tongue. His slow, comfortable-with-himself walk into the kitchen when he would visit us, after laying his cell phone and keys on the place at the top of the stairway. Now my warm hug is from the purple gorilla.

 So much has happened, Solomon, in these 3 years! You have a niece named Maeve you never met. She was 4 months from birth when you left us. Now she’s going on three. Oona, your other niece, asked me about you the other day, when she saw a picture in my office. I showed her a picture of you carrying her on your shoulders on our last Christmas together. You should see the Bay Bridge! And the Golden State Warriors! Number ONE in the NBA. They are 36 wins/ 7 loses!!! You would have really loved Pharrell Williams’ Happy, and most of the stuff on his album, Girl.

Solomon as a toddler– looks like a DJ

The other day I drove to the East Bay and listened to your favorite music. One after the other, the songs arranged themselves from hundreds on my I-phone I just called to say I love you …..by Stevie Wonder, Celebrate by Kool & the Gang, the band you opened for opened for at the San Francisco Black + White Ball probably in 2011.<> On a painful note, your friend, Jason Rezaian, has been imprisoned in Iran since July 22. Nothing so far has gained his release. Any strings you could pull from the other side would be appreciated.

I still remember your words that came to me soon after your death. Take me with you, Mom, in all that you do. I think of that when I’m on a curvy road — your love of driving— when I play the djembe drum, and when I give a talk, like I did at the Asian Art Museum a couple weeks ago — I remember how you held the space for people to have a good time. Miss you, Baby, and love you — forever and ever!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwOU3bnuU0k

Happy Birthday Solomon!

Dearest Solomon,

I saw this BMW i8 in the airport in Frankfort last week. I could just see you driving it! YES! So I am giving it to you as a birthday present to drive through the clouds with either DJ AM or Michael Jackson after a heavenly concert. We can all picture you doing that.

I miss you. I wish you could come over after a bike ride and swim in the pool, then barbeque some burgers with onions for us. After, you would curl up on the couch with Nicole, after spending a half-hour with dad in the office on computer-tec things and all of us would settle into a sweet groove.

Oona gaining speed!

Oona. I wish you knew each other. You would appreciate her giddy physicality, and take her wake-boarding in a few years. Maeve would make you smile and smile —as she does everyone. You would chat with Arrow Solomon. You’d play with Mila Sol and Varun Solomon. All the next generation who carry your name. Pharrell Williams would be up there on your mix —Happy and …up all night to get lucky. I love those songs because of you.

Maeve, now two years old

Miss you, baby! Hope you have fun driving the newest, playing the latest, climbing the highest, and boarding on down. I feel you in my heart, and in my hands when I play the djembe.

Love you.

SOLOMON 7/11/77-1/31/12 and “Get Lucky”

Last night we watched the Grammys. I remember watching them with Solomon and Nicole, probably in 2009. He gave a running commentary of who was good, and I still follow it, the tunes in the Grammy-nominee category. Many people my age think of Grandparents when they hear the word Grammy. But I got early training. So when GET LUCKY came on with Pharrell Williams, Daft Punk and wow— Stevie Wonder!! I joined Staples Center attendees who were – several thousand of them – on their feet dancing with a kind of slow joy that held the room; joy that shone on the faces of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Beyonce, Keith Urban, Katy Perry, Jay-Z, and Yoko Ono and more.  Beautiful moment.  See for yourself. Watch it here!

Like the legend of the Phoenix

All ends with beginnings

What keeps the planets spinning

The force from the beginning

 

We’ve come too far

Pharrell +Stevie
“Get Lucky”

To give up who we are

So let’s raise the bar

And our cups to the stars

 

She’s up all night to the sun

I’m up all night to get some

She’s up all night for good fun

I’m up all night to get lucky

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I got some cough-and-sneeze bug a couple weeks ago and it has taken forever to clear out, so, since I leave for New Delhi, India tomorrow morning (Feb. 28), I paid a quick visit to my Ear-doctor to get the OK to go.

 As I got close to the office, I turned on the radio to see what the message the universe was offering for this journey and there it was: GET LUCKY blasting out. Timing like that has a name on it. SOLOMON.  I burst into tears and cried and sobbed: Not from sadness, but from utter joy to feel him so present in the serendipity of how he knew those best songs before anyone, and this was his gift. Have a good trip, Mom….

        ( Get Lucky… more verses)

The present has no ribbon

Your gift keeps on giving

What is this I’m feeling

If you want to leave I’m with it

 

We’ve come too far

Solomon DJ’ing the Black ‘n White Ball, SF.

To give up who we are

So let’s raise the bar

And our cups to the stars

 

 

Like the legend of the Phoenix

All ends with beginnings

What keeps the planets spinning

The force from the beginning

 

We’ve come too far

To give up who we are

So let’s raise the bar

And our cups to the stars

 

She’s up all night to the sun

I’m up all night to get some

She’s up all night for good fun

I’m up all night to get lucky

 

 

I’m so lucky to have had Solomon Kahn in my life for 34 years. The anniversary of the end of the second year of his passing, January 31, 2012 is almost here. Those of you who love him, I’ll be with you!

Solomon, you still get me dancing! Feeling the happiness in being alive. I return to the place where we spent the first 4 months together — you, a stowaway in my womb — to Mother India. I got Lucky.

Solomon in India in the 90’s

The little three-year-old girl (green circle), Shahana Ali Khan, is an adult singer and will be singing a Raga Concert for us in New Delhi next week. She is the daughter of Usted Mashkoor Ali Khan seated next to her and her mother.  The music goes on….

<>   <>   <>

Solomon: One year anniversary

taking Solomon’s ashes to the Ganges!  Follow the purple line…..

The anniversary – one year– that marks the day Solomon died, is here. First, I want to thank all my friends, my close support team, Solomon’s dear friends who call and text me, asking how I am, and sharing their stories and humor; and the communities of good-hearted people who have held our family in their hearts over the last year. Big Thanks for that.  There seems to be much synchronicity and ease around this marker. As the mother of a child who died, the year is full of markers: memorial, birthday, wedding, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Each one a strong reminder of loss, for me and many others. Yesterday we honored him in San Rafael, but with Solomon there is always more.      

 As I write this I feel the enthusiasm and adventure so easily associated with Solomon Kahn.

It started with my dear friend Girija. She lost her son Jon just over a year before Solomon’s passing. He was about ten years younger than Solomon.We have met several times over the last six months. Mostly, I don’t care to talk about the loss, but with her – it’s been easy.

She will be in Bangkok on January 31. She told me she plans to  make offerings at a temple there – in Solomon’s name.

Jon Brilliant is smiling and tall — in the front row. Girija in the bright shirt…

Then she goes on to Delhi, where she will meet up with her close friend Suzanne and they will fly to Benaras (Varanasi, on the Ganges) and release some of Jon’s ashes to commemorate the second anniversary of his death. She offered to do the same with Solomon’s ashes, and will do that on the anniversary of Hazrat Inayat Khan’s passing, known as his URS or “Wedding Night,” when he left the earthly plane: February 5, 1927. <> This makes me fee so happy to know that once again, Solomon is taking someone he never met before (Girija) on an adventure!

Solomons’s ashes and 4 tiny photos – each representing a different visit Solomon made to Mother India – into the sacred waters there.  Here are the 4 photos that will be put in the Ganges…  Thank you Girija.

Me and Shabda at the Taj 1976, 3 months pregnant with Sol.

Sol at a cave in Deradun, India when he was about 8.

Solomon and Jagdish Mohan, his tabla drum teacher, by the Ganges when he was 15.

Solomon and Scott Kaiser at Scott’s wedding in India a few years ago.

<>    <>    <>

<>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the 31st, Nicole plans to visit the Mountain, the place our son proposed to her. We will be in Maui, visiting Ram Das and feeling the beauty of the island on this anniversary of Solomon’s death. By reading this, you are with us. Take a moment to feel the blessing of Solomon is your life. Even if you didn’t know him, like my British friend who says he guides her with phrases like: Live Life fully. Have a good time.…

I’m getting better at it, Dear Solomon. One day at a time! Thank you for all you brought to so many —- and continue to do so, one gift at a time.

<>   <>   <>

The Bosphorus – and Solomon

Yesterday Solomon and Nicole were supposed to be married. But that was not meant to be, due to Solomon’s death in January. Shabda and I are here in Istanbul, and have been for several days. I felt the best way to bring closure to this last appointment our son had made, was to travel up the beautiful waterway that divides the European Continent and Asia – the Bosphorus. We were with our UK friends, Cinda and Tansen, and wanted to make a comfortable day of it, which meant taking the boat as far north as it ran, then taking a taxi back to the city in the afternoon.

We began by catching a 10:30 boat, which was quite full, as it was sunny and warm after days of showers. It departs daily from the Golden horn, a kind of inlet in the heart of Istanbul, then joins a remarkable kind of river, known as the Bosphorus, on its way to the Black Sea. In the course of thirty-some miles, this salt channel passes under two suspension bridges. As we traveled back and forth between the European and Asian sides, the river became a clearer blue, the shoreline went from a continual urban landscape to villages, and finally, up closer to the entrance to the Black Sea, wooded mountainous countryside.

Just past the second bridge, an hour into the cruise, I knew it was the right moment. I pulled out a photo of Solomon and Nicole taken in our backyard, their eyes the same color as the water. I held it over the side of the boat with some of Solomon’s ashes. In front of the beautiful village of Kanlica (pronounced Kahn-li-ja) I let the photo and the ashes go.

It’s amazing how a small ritual like this can bring a feeling of ease, of completion to the ragged heartache of the day. OK, the moment seemed to say, you can let go of this wedding that was not meant to be, let go of this and return to present time. Here in this beautiful place on earth, on the water with a light breeze on a sunny autumn day in Turkey, I’ve done what I came here to do. The next couple of stops brought us into an even more peaceful location. Finally the boat stopped at the fishing village of Beykoz – the end of the line.

Shabda led us to the Baba Restaurant where we sat at a table right next to the water, the clear sea-blue water. It was so peaceful after some days in the city of 18 million people. The quiet was like a strong presence. We ordered and ate delicious fresh Sea Bass and another local fish, Dorado, cooked to perfection. Here was the perfect company. The perfect food. The perfect day.

Very much like a day with Solomon. This cruise and lunch and easy time with friends. Yet I imagine he’d have rented a fast boat and would return at evening, passing under the second bridge, the one with a thousand bright purple lights lit like the Golden Gate Bridge. He would would enter the harbor and see the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia glowing on the hill. After docking the boat he, Nicole,  and his family and friends would take the short ride up the steep tunnel tram to the top of the hill where he would be scheduled to  spin at one of the dance clubs on the night streets near Tunnel Square. Losing a child is a heartbreak, but Solomon always did his best to make the best of any situation. His harmonious life continues to shine in all of us.

Notes: (In the photo to the right, the small white diamond is the photograph…The white X on the large top photo is the place on the Bosphorus where the ashes went.)

Eugene! a university, a college, and a ring

Two lectures in 6 hours. Eugene, Oregon. University of Oregon, the “O” U. But first, I had to run into the store with the “O” and get my granddaughter Oona a size 3 cheerleading outfit with an “O” on the front. Oh, yes.

The university is beautiful. Brick buildings that have an East Coast flavor, except that the trees are so large and healthy, and there is the gorgeous green of Oregon everywhere. Rick Colby, Professor of Religion, teaches a large class on the Abrahamic Religions and this small class called “Women Sufis” – which he told me he really enjoys. He had invited me for tea the day before, and I was happy to be talking with this man who knew so much about Prophet Muhammad’s world and Sufism.

class on “Women Sufis”

I was to address the small class. It was a pleasure after the short bookstore talks. There was time to stretch out; discuss Khadija, Zaynab and the story of the time in 629 Prophet Muhammad withdrew from all his wives (nine probably), for twenty-nine days. I reported that this had a spiritual result, and that after the dust settled, the wives became known as the “Mothers of Islam.”

I showed pictures of Sufi Women Teachers, like Asha Greer of the Ruhaniat, and Daisy Khan, a Sufi women who heads two Muslim organizations in the USA with the aim of bringing awareness to the positive side of the activities and accomplishments of Muslim Women.

Murshida Asha Greer at Lama Foundation

Daisy Khan: Exec. Director of ASMA Society

I asked the students to tell me why they were there.  After class, Rick took me to lunch at a Thai Restaurant lunch, then we met Clif Trolin, who whisked me off to Lane Community College for the afternoon lecture.

Clif is the reason I was invited to Eugene.  He came to a bookstore reading I did in Santa Fe in August and said he’d like me to come to Lane. I was skeptical. I had been trying to find higher education venues that wanted to know about what was Untold, or overlooked about early Islam, but there had been little interest. So here was Clif – a philosophy teacher who teaches religions of the Middle East – taking up the challenge and making it happen. What a delight! Lane is impressive, modern, bustling with great activity. He asked Rick Colby to include me in his teaching program.

Clif Trolin & Sarah Washburn. Lane CC

Clif took me to Sarah Washburn’s class on The History of Islam, where I was to talk about “History’s Omissions, ” an opportunity to discuss Untold.  So I touched on matriarchy at the time just before Islam, the question of the number of wives of Muhammad, and the legal rights he facilitated. Here Instructor Sarah Washburn filled us in about when legal rights came to Europe. Much later. That showed just how advanced early Islam was in championing opportunities for the disenfranchised, as well as for women! I read from Untold, and brought out the visuals after the hour break. The class was almost two hours long! There were some good questions after.

Zarifah Spain, a friend from many years ago, was hosting me at her house in Eugene. She had attended both talks with me and was driving me back to her place when I looked down at my hands and noticed my ring was missing. The restroom under the stairs at Lane. So we drove back. It wasn’t there. I scribbled a description on the back of a business card and placed it on the sink, where I had left the ring 5 hours before. The missing ring.  This happened to be the Mariam Stone that my son Solomon’s Godfather, Todd, had found – along the Silk Route in 1976, had made into a ring and given to Joe Miller, my Spiritual Godfather.

My ring is missing….

At Solomon’s Bris Ceremony, when he was a week old, Joe gave it to me and said: “This is for Solomon.” I tried to give it to him as he reached his twenties, then thirties, but he said, “You Keep it, Mom.” After Solomon died on January 31 of this year, I started to wear it, and even talked about it at the memorial. The stone came from the formation of the Himalayas, an alchemist’s stone which allows the wearer to “keep cool under pressure and allows him to transform grave, even hopeless situations into creative and positive ones!” Now it was gone. I tried to release it, holding a thread of hope that it would return to me, but felt it was really gone  and wished the finder well.

The next morning I phoned the college. Nothing. Then as I got ready to step out the door to go to the airport, and home – I got the call. A woman named Loretta at The Issue Window at Lane had seen my card on the sink and thought someone had given the ring in at her window. Yes, she had it!

Zarifa, Clif and Tamam at Lane CC

Haqiqa, who had offered me the ride, said she might just be able to make it to Lane and back before my plane took off, but it would be close. She dropped me at the airport ……and showed up with the ring just as my plane was boarding.  A security guard – I had made friends with – identified Haqiqaa and rushed the piece through security, (which happened to be next to the gate) as the last passengers showed their tickets and headed for the Alaska prop-plane.

PS, This from Haqiqa today – When I arrived at the airport it was 12:47 so I thought I had missed the connection. I almost went to the post office instead. Surely a 1:10 flight had boarded already!   But I parked in front of the sliding doors at Alaska Airlines, in plain view of a policeman sitting in his car a few car lengths behind me. A large sign in front of me said, No Stopping No Waiting – If You Leave Your Vehicle, You will be Cited and Towed. I jumped out of the car and ran toward the door. The sliding doors opened sooner than expected, to reveal a security officer walking toward me. He said, “You have a ring for a passenger?” and smiled, holding out his hand.
Joyful surprise! “Yes!” I gave it to him, “I’m on my way to give it to her.” I thanked him and he turned and sprinted toward Security.

“Take me with you, Mom…into your life, into what you do.”  This message seemed to be from Solomon, something I wrote down the week after his death, There I was, sitting on the plane with the brown fossil set in silver on my finger again, gazing in disbelief. Gratitude, I kept thinking, all the way home through tears. Gratitude.

Alaska Airlines flight to Oakland by way of Portland, seat #13c