Josh sent me this picture with the following note ... and some rocks ... when he and Beth
lived in California ...

"I love this photo.
It's Bodoga Bay about 3 1/2 hours west of Chico. Beth and I played in the dying light like children. I collected rocks and lost track of time. But I thought of the similarities between these rocks and my life. The hardships (waves) are what shape the lives of earth's inhabitants (these rocks). We talk about seeing the same stars and moon. But look to the sun because it is what makes life beautiful! Thank you for being my light!

Your son of 22 years!
Joshua Price"

"Our loved ones only go from us to God.
And God is very near."

St. Augustine

"I think I've figured it all out. Everything is based on Love."

- Josh Price

"Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is fleeing away."

- Psalm 39:4
(Josh's cousin Jeremiah has this tattooed
in Flemish on his wrist)

"Across the years I will walk with you -
in deep, green forests; on shores of sand;
and when our time on earth is through,
in heaven, too, you will have my hand."

"Live the Experience ... Be!"

"My father taught me to love the mountains."

- Josh Price

"If we are always arriving and departing, it is also true that we are externally anchored. One's destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things."

- Josh had this written
on his 2004 calendar

"Perhaps there are no stars in the sky, but rather, openings where our loved ones shine down to let us know they are happy."

--Eskimo legend

"Death's power is limited -
It cannot eradicate memories
Or slay love
It cannot destroy even a threadbare faith
Or permanently hobble the smallest hope in God
It cannot permeate the soul
And it cannot cripple the spirit
It merely separates us for a while
That is the only power death can claim
- No more"

-Donna VanLiere, The Christmas Shoes

"It is not until a beautiful kernel of corn is buried and broken in the earth by Death that its inner heart sprouts, producing hundreds of other seeds and kernels."

- Thomas Toke Bunch
(sent 1/28/07 by Aunt Anne)

"We spend most of our time and energy in a kind of horizontal thinking. We move along the surface of things ... [but] there are times when we stop. We sit still. We lose ourselves in a pile of leaves or its memory. We listen and breezes from a whole other world begin to whisper."

- James Carroll
(Added 2/20/07)

Lyrics - Shine Your Light (by Robbie Robertson)
(from the movie Ladder 49) - Added 2/20/07

The cry of the city like a siren's song
Wailing over the rooftops the whole night long
Saw a shooting star like a diamond in the sky
Must be someone's soul passing by

These are the streets
Where we used to run - where your Papa's from
These are the days
Where you become what you become
These are the streets
Where the story's told
The truth unfolds
Darkness settles in

Shine your light down on me
Lift me up so I can see
Shine your light when you're gone
Give me the strength
To carry on, carry on

Don't wanna be a hero
Just an everyday man
Trying to do the job the very best he can
But now it's like living on borrowed time
Out on the rim, over the line
Always tempting fate like a game of chance
Never wanna stick around to the very last dance
Sometimes I stumble and take a hard fall
Loose your grip off the wall

Shine your light down on me
Lift me up so I can see
Shine your light when you're gone
Giver me the strength to carry on
Carry on

I thought I saw him walking by the side of the road
Maybe trying to find his way home
He's here but not here
He's gone but not gone
Just hope he know if I get lost

Shine your light down on me
Lift me up so I can see
Shine your light when you're gone
Give me the strength to carry on
To carry on

"Bouldering is a spark that ignites the passion to go beyond what seems physically possible."

"You're dancing the dance that the rock has created."

"The mystics believe the world is in a raindrop. To me climbing is in a boulder, and a boulder is in a single crystal."

- Josh Price
from one of his journals

"I feel that the mountains are where I was born mentally. The things I've seen there and the ways I've felt are far greater than my life in civilization. The mountains are the place I can always run to for shelter. They will never leave me; they are one of the few things I can hold onto. Whenever I visit this place I find God, and for a brief moment find the meaning of life, and someday when I'm remembered for my actions here I want to go where the mountains never end."

- Josh Price

"And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed."

- Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

"Live your life every day as if it were a garden, and tend to your garden as if today were the last day you will touch it."

My grandmother Agnes C. Holt recently passed and this poem was read at her funeral. I think it's an excellent poem and would like to share it with everyone.

I miss and love you Josh, Happy Birthday!
(sent 1/30/07 by Michelle Price)

I read of a woman who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend
She referred to the dates on his tombstone from beginning to the end.

She noted that first came the date of his birth and spoke of the following dates with tears. But she said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.

For the dash represents all the time that he spent alive on earth And now only those who loved him know what that little line is worth

For it matters not how much we own the cars, the house, the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard are there things you'd like to change? For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down long enough to consider what's true and real. And always try to understand how other people feel
And be less quick to anger and show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives like we've never loved before

If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile. Remembering that this special dash might only last a little while

So when your eulogy is being read with your lives action to rehash. Would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?

Please note you may read about the author at thedash.net
also note I've changed the pronouns from she to he.

"But I know that although we may never understand it, there is a plan, and though it may be traced in pain, in the end there will be joy, and it will be beautiful."

-Donna VanLiere, The Christmas Shoes

"May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are
born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us."

Sent by George Carafos, 11/09/09

"Love is the true means by which the world is enjoyed; our love to others and others love to us."
- Thomas Traherne

Sent by Aunt Anne, 11/26/08

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure that you are.

"There is a road that I would follow:
A line of sky I need to see
Where moon, for sun, lights mountain rim
until sun defines each edging tree.

Agreement made between the two
that light shall mark the valley's edge
and dark be never made complete.
A careful balance kept in pledge.

Against the time when mortal eye
has lost all need for sun and sky,
and mountains shrug into the dark
and leave no line to measure heaven by."

(I recently rediscovered this in my papers)
sent by Elise Oren , Winter '05

A Thought for Today
"This is the beginning of a new day. I have been given this day to use as I will. I can waste it or use it for good. What I do today is important because I'm exchanging a day of my life for yet. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something I have traded it for. I want it to be gain, not loss; good, not evil; success, not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price I paid for it."

- The Abbey of the Genesee

Death is nothing at all;
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened; everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, And you are you,
And the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
What we were to each other; that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak to me in that easy you you always used.
Put no difference in your tone. Wear no false air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effort, without the ghost of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it always was.
There is absolute and unbroken continuity.
What is this death, but negligible circumstance?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval somewhere,
Very near, just around the corner.
All is well.
Nothing is past; nothing is lost.
One brief moment, and all will be as it was before.

- by Canon Henry Scott-Holland
sent by Melodie Noveroske

Freedom and love may be the most revolutionary ideas available to us.

- Robin D. G. Kelley

I guess I'll see you next lifetime.

- Erykah Badu

Where are you?
I have been searching for your continuation beyond the boundaries of my small space. I have wanted to believe you still exist somewhere else. Somewhere separate, but near to me. I need only to look inside. I will find you there, shining steady at the end of a silver thread of love that will connect us forever to the most powerful truth that has ever been or ever will be.

- Anonymous

I wanted to tell you that I just got back from Yosemite a couple days ago. I set out there (again) to try Midnight Lightning, hands down the most famous boulder problem in the world. I’ve been trying this problem for over 8 years and kept motivated even though every time I failed it was on the last move before the problem is over. This problem is considered a rite of passage for every boulderer, one many try, and few complete. A boulderer who does this problem would be known as a Stonemaster in the old days. On Josh’s and my trip to Yosemite, we tried this problem every day because we both wanted to do it. I had it nearly wired and gave Josh all the help I could to get him up it. He was close but neither of us got it that trip. The problem is almost mystical in the way that it lures someone into trying again and again, people gather to watch quietly, and when someone succeeds they all clap, and it’s as if they somehow defied the laws of gravity to get up it – a truly great sight to see. It’s as close to the perfect problem I’ve ever done!

Josh always believed in me that I would get it and would reassuringly say each time before I tried, “You’ll get it this time, I know you can.” Well, on this last trip out there, I couldn’t help but think about Josh and how much I wished he was there with me, and it was almost as if he was there in a way. I’m not a religious person, but walking to the boulder that morning, it just felt like he was somehow there with me. My first day on it this trip, I got very close to doing it, figured out what had to be done and decided to come back the next day to try my new idea. On the next day, walking to the boulder, I looked up at the sky, said a little prayer for Josh to give me a hand. I had been patient, I’ve spent hordes of money to come out here over and over, injured my fingers on it, thought about it for over 8 years – I’d put my dues in on this, and waited long enough, today HAD to be the day! Lacing up I felt good and I cruised up past the parts I knew so well up to the move that had stopped me time and time again. But I fell again. After a short rest, I stepped up again, this time, not feeling so solid on the lower moves. But as I approached the last move I threw myself into it, felt my weight transfer onto my feet, my arm extending, and somehow my body was still up there. My hand reached the jug and I had done it. My sense of frustration, anxiety, and tension were now replaced with pure joy! Soon I was standing on top shouting…I hope he was able to see that moment where I was on top, standing proud. But even as I came down the boulder I found myself missing Josh. I only wish it was him that was there on top, Josh Price – a real Stonemaster.

Sincerely,
Ben Sternberg
6/4/07

"Life is short.
Break the rules.
Forgive quietly.
Love truly.
Laugh uncontrollably.
Never regret a smile."

- From Grandma Ellie
5/4/07

MAY THE SUN bring you new energy by day,
MAY THE MOON softly restore you by night,
MAY THE RAIN wash away your worries,
MAY THE BREEZE blow new strength into your being,
MAY YOU WALK gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life.

- Apache blessing

The One Who Knows by Dar Williams

"Time it was I had a dream
And you're the dream come true
And if I had the world to give
I'd give it all to you.
I'll take you to the mountains
I will take you to the sea
I'll show you how this life became
A miracle to me.

You'll fly away
but take my hand until that day
So when they ask how far love goes
When my job's done, you'll be the one who knows.

All the things you treasure most
Will be the hardest won
I will watch you struggle on
Before the answers come
But I won't make it harder
I'll be there to cheer you on
I'll shine the light that guides you down
The road you're walking on

You'll fly away
but take my hand until that day
So when they ask how far love goes
When my job's done, you'll be the one who knows.

Before the mountains call to you
Before you leave this home
When I teach your heart to trust
As I will teach my own
But sometimes I will ask the moon
Where it shined upon you last
And shake my head and smile and say
It all went by so fast

You'll fly away
but take my hand until that day
So when they ask how far love goes
When my job's done, you'll be the one who knows."

This is the song Beth requested for Josh's memorial ... I listen to it often & am always moved by its simplicity and beauty and appropriateness to Josh's life. (Becky)

"We live in a world that demands answers, insists on structure, wants to get on with tomorrow. But for those for whom the loss is personal and intimate, the expectation to move on is unrealistic, even cruel.
      Those of us at a distance can return to normal soon, but we should understand that grief is overwhelming.
      It does not dissipate on schedule.
      For the families and friends of the dead, grief will not disappear completely in days or weeks or months.
      The pain of loss must be lived. It does not make sense.
      The best thing we can do it to be there for those in pain-and not pretend that time heals all wounds.
      Sometimes it doesn't."

Excerpt from column by Mark Hare
"For those hit by tragedy, moving on is not so simple"
Democrat & Chronicle 4/24/07

"Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you truly love."

-Rumi
(Sent by Beth 3/1/07)

"I used to think the most important thing I could do was keep my children safe. That is a wild hope. Now I want for them to love, to trust, to believe. In God, in themselves, in others."

-Philip Gulley

"This is the day that the Lord hath made, Let us be glad and rejoice in it."

"Grief is a haunting."

- Joseph M. Marshall III
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