Dear friends,

Thank you for the tremendous outpouring of sympathy, love and respect for my father and my family. It has been deeply comforting. This has been a painful year for my extended family, to say the least. We lost my Aunt Louise, my father's oldest sister, in April. My stepmother June passed away in May. My daddy died on September 12th. Six weeks later my stepsister Rosey passed away. It has been, as an old friend of mine says, a 'season of loss.'

I am not close to understanding, or accommodating within myself, what these losses mean. I know that deep relationships, like the bond between father and daughter, do not end with death. I know that parents keep teaching us even after they are gone. I know my love for my dad is undiminished, and I sense the reverse is also true. But the physical absence, the emptiness where the voice and the touch and the laugh and the kisses were, is excruciating to behold. In a way I am blessed that I am of the age where many of my friends are also losing their parents, or navigating the illness of a parent, and we provide comfort for each other. I don't know what I would do without my husband and my friends right now. I assumed, wrongly, that human beings knew how to lose their parents, since it is in the natural order of life. I was--am--shocked at how little I actually know about letting go of someone I love so dearly, and whose DNA I carry.

My heart resonates with all of you who have lost a parent, as now I understand the depth of the loss, and the inner re-construction that takes place. I am just beginning that process, and I imagine it is life-long.

I hope you got a chance to see the CMT special of the tribute concert for my dad, which we taped on November 10th at the Ryman auditorium in Nashville. It was so full of his spirit, his dignity, grace and LIFE. I was very proud of the artists, the crew, and the whole show.

God bless you,

Rosanne Cash