I heard about it from a fellow kossack before I even joined the site, and how he encouraged all who could, to attend the annual Plains Peanut Festival in Plains, Georgia every September.
In theory it honors the peanut harvest ( also now solar power ), but in reality it’s all about honoring the Carter family.
From his glorious mother Miss Lillian, a lifelong registered nurse ( because of that, Jimmy thus became the first American president born in a hospital ) who at age 68, joined the Peace Corps in 1966 and served for two years as a health volunteer in the neediest slums of India.
And a devoted Dodger fan because they were the first team to integrate the game.
Tommy Lasorda didn’t take guff from anyone, but he always deferred to the ‘29th player’.
What an example to such a man as her son.
Except for his years in the service and as president, Jimmy has lived all his life in Plains, though he traveled extensively abroad as part of the Carter Center’s election monitoring and its effort to successfully eradicate the Guinea worm parasite and so many other diseases in developing countries across the globe.
And of course his annual trips to build homes with Habitat for Humanity.
For six years I made it a point to fly or drive from Colorado to attend, and they were warm, enriching and grounding journeys.
I made it a major point to attend and worship at Jimmy and Rosalynn’s beloved Maranatha Baptist Church where he taught Sunday School lessons for decades before standing-room-only crowds of visitors.
I was one such visiting congregant, and in the room were other admirers and worshippers who like me, wore a yarmulke.
And I saw the same with those wearing Muslim skullcaps.
On one occasion I witnessed a Hindu couple praying wearing traditional garb and both sporting bindis in the middle of their foreheads.
Being that bindis represent and signify piety as well as serving as a constant reminder to keep God at the center of one’s thoughts, they were indeed certainly in the perfect place and space.
And all were welcomed as such.
His sermons on love and beauty and God spoke to all of us deeply, and were universal and all- encompassing to all of brotherhood and sisterhood.
Of conceptions, preconceptions, misconceptions.
Of compassion, of kindness and especially of mercy.
Two such quotes of his that he spoke to us, of the dozens upon dozens that left a mark….
“To quote my brother Reverend Desmond Tutu, “I would not worship a God who is homophobic."
And putting a huge smile on my face was when he said, “As Nicolette Larson sang, ‘It’s gonna take a lotta love, to change the way things are. It’s gonna take a lot of love or we won’t get too far.’”
Indeed. Far out.
Remember, that when she first sang it, he was in the middle of his presidency and the Carter’s received and welcomed frequent musical guests that admired him as much as he admired them.
Jimmy first designated June as Black Music Month in 1979 and personally called up such luminaries as Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, Smokey Robinson amongst others to please join them and a 1000 others as they hosted a buffet supper on the South Lawn, and invited to perform gospel singers Sarah Jordan Powell and Andres Crouch, Jazz singer Billy Eckstine, disco phenom Evelyn Champagne King and of course, Chuck Berry.
Said Jimmy at the time, “If we had had the Black Music Association organized 203 years ago, so that Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and George Washington could have just heard some of this music at the very beginning, our country could’ve avoided a lot of trouble, a lot of heartache, and a lot of struggle, and a lot of suffering and a lot of division, and would be even greater than it is now.
Black music exemplifies the pursuit of happiness and is an avenue for understanding and friendship that has been effective when politicians could not succeed.”
Actually, Jimmy is June Carter Cash's cousin and Johnny Cash’s cousin by marriage.
A few in particular…. Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and Gregg Allman…. spent many a night in the White House and remain close friends to this day.
He regards Willie and Bob as his “best friends.”
His favorite song at the time?
Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?
In fact, he was regarded at the time as The Rock and Roll President.
Locate the movie and smile and enjoy. You can thank me later.
But I digress :-)….
For the first two years of the pandemic, the Festival wisely decided to cease, but it reopened last year and Jimmy and the absolutely remarkable Rosalynn were there to meet and greet and speak and inspire and I knew that I should go and not squander the opportunity.
But I squandered it like the big ole procrastinating lummox I proved to be on that occasion.
So arrangements have been made for others to temporarily take over my responsibilities, and I’ll be driving to Plains this week. 1,500 miles each way more or less.
I was invited by a lifelong local to occupy a guest home there that’s in walking distance to most, as they stayed in mine whilst visiting Santa Fe and we became friends.
I’ve been informed that likewise many others have felt such a calling from around the country.
The church is full every day, and all hotel rooms are full for many miles around.
I could fly, but I feel the need the time to be alone with my thoughts and where they may lead, and allow it to happen.
If he passes whilst I’m there, I’ll drive to the National Cathedral in Washington, where they have requested and will be given a State Funeral, before being buried, not in Arlington Cemetery, but in the grounds of their house, by a willow tree on the lawn of the property.
It’s a pilgrimage… I feel compelled to breath the air there, to worship there, to pray there, to commune there, to recalibrate there, to be quiet with my thoughts there… and to cry and grieve there.
I feel compelled.
I feel drawn.
At the funeral, to mourn with the mourners, and honor him and honor all those likewise honoring him.
There are only a few rare times that the death of someone I don’t know personally affected me so, be it Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela and without question Robin Williams.
This though…
Jimmy and Rosalynn, who shaped so much of who I strive to be on my very best of days, by their example’s of service, loyalty, fidelity and honesty and integrity and faith and kindness and love.
It was his example that led me in the me me me Reagan 1980’s to switch gears and begin my long tenure of service as an aid/relief worker, in whatever context or form that brought.
Oh Rosalynn.
Jimmy and Rosalynn first met each other when he was 3 years old and she was just one day old, as their parents were close friends, and they have been virtually inseparable since they tied the knot in1946.
77 years friends.
Right there by his side, hammering a nail with one hand and watching over her husband as he does the same.
Holding hands everyday, by every and all accounts.
So tender.
I carry with me ….. the overwhelming love and feelings of such appreciation to be witness to such a shining example, and the empty void his loss will bring... that you also feel too and for this man, this woman, this couple, this family.
I know you feel me.
We’re all on this pilgrimage together.
And when I lay down the flowers, they will be from all of us, from all of our hearts.
Metaphorically speaking…. we’re on our way to Graceland.
Did you know that Joe Biden was the first United States senator to endorse Jimmy when he ran for president?
Jimmy remembers.
Said Rosalynn, “I think it’s a great relief to have Joe Biden in office. After what we had before…. I’m so very pleased about it.”