It is a deep pleasure to offer you this new music, songs of loss, remembrance and simple loving presence in the face of life’s inevitable endings. As many of you know, I was blessed to be with my dad during the months preceding his death in 2011. The passing of a parent is a life transition many of us are facing or have faced, and for me it was a real transformation. It changed my feelings about death, and brought me into a precious connection with what matters most- love, forgiveness, patience, faith.

                                  “Oh simple  simple love
                                    It’s all that’s left of us
                          When everything has turned to dust
                                        I’ll put my trust
                                    In simple simple love”

                                               – From Long For This World

 Long For This World is a collection of new songs written since my dad’s passing, and some older songs inspired by other losses that also touch on universals.  My intention in writing and sharing these songs is to invite you into a space of healing and comfort, affirmation of our human capacity for compassion and releasing, and encouragement for your own encounters with loss in all its myriad forms.

I kept the recording of these recent songs very simple, singing live in two intimate house concerts without extra instruments and production.  I invited friends who listened, felt, cried, and sang along. You’ll hear their voices- including the voices of a Seattle area Threshold Choir – on a few of the songs. My hope is that you will feel our presence, will be in some way “in the room” with us as you listen.

I hope you'll consider this music both a personal touchstone, and a resource for others you may know how are facing the challenges of loss, grief, endings and transitions. I'd love it if you'd help connect me to agencies or groups whose mission could be supported by my music. And of course, your friends and family. I've created a facebook page dedicated to this recording, and for the community of those who are touched in some way by bereavement, loss, life transitions, and questions of meaning and purpose in the face of impermanence. It can be a meeting place for us, a place to post stories, wisdom, poems, and resources. I hope you'll join me there-and "like" the page so others can find it.
https://www.facebook.com/betsyroselongforthisworld

The Buddha had a name for the "unavoidables" we all must face- sickness, old age, and death. He called them The Heavenly Messengers. Why? I think because they bring us into the very heart of the present moment, strip away our illusions of immunity from suffering, and provide the uninvited but often welcome chance to discover how precious and beautiful are the fleeting moments we have here.