Sometimes we don’t appreciate things until they are gone. Mary Kellogg was different. We appreciated her every day, right up to her death earlier this week.

Today is Mary Kellogg Day on Bedlam Farm. Maria and I are both going to a funeral service for Mary this afternoon in Granville, N.Y. We have both been asked to speak about her, and are looking forward to talking about Mary and our time with her.

She deserves to be remembered. Hers is a remarkable journey.

I think I’ll honor by being silent the rest of the day, here and on the farm and my blog.

I think the best way for me to honor her is to think about her, remember her, talk at her funeral, and meditating. I’m not into mourning, I prefer to celebrate life, but Mary is a loss I feel deeply.

Mary has been declining for some time, her death was no surprise, but it does deserve to be noted, if not grieved. She would not appreciate people grieving over her.

And there is so much to celebrate.

Mary was a central figure in our lives. She was a brilliant poet, an extraordinary human being, and a wonderful friend.

Today, I want to remember her, read her poems, think of her and hold her in the light as the Quakers say.

I wrote about her earlier in the week.

I won’t ever forget the day she honored me by asking me to be the first person in her life to read her poetry.

We sat together on my porch and the world changed for both of us.

Maria was the second person to read Mary’s work. The rest – four books, much acclaim, pleasure, and joy to many people – is history.

Mary reminded me that creativity and the creative spark are sacred things, gifts from God, not to be wasted or forgotten.

It is a shame that Mary never showed her poetry to anyone for fear people would think she was odd. I wonder how many creatives hide for their whole lives for fear of the same thing.

Some time ago, Mary told me she didn’t want people making a “big fuss” when she died. I think she’ll understand if we make a small but loving fuss instead.

I’m grateful to have persuaded her to come out and share her wonderful work. I might write about Mary later in the day, or maybe just soak up the very lovely and generous person that she was in silence.

Thanks for sharing this wonderful person with me and with Maria. More later. Today is a day and Mary is a person I really need to think about.