Every year, everything in my lifetime leads back to this, the fires and the Black River of

Loss, whose other side is salvation, whose meaning none of us will ever know.

That's Ellen Burston, reading on stage in New York City, the Mary Oliver poem in Blackwater Woods.

You may know that Ellen's been a repeat guest on our podcast going back to our first year in 2014, and we asked her to be a part of celebrating our

show at a live event on New York City's Lower East Side just a few weeks ago.

Ellen is 91 and as she read I held the microphone for her so she could

hold the folder in which she'd brought the printed out poem and as she

finished these lines she stared into my eyes.

To live in this world, you must be able to do three things.

To love what is mortal, to hold it against your bones, knowing your very life depends on it.

And when the time comes, to let it go and when the time comes to let it go to let it go.

To let it go.

Thank you. I'm Anna Sale and this is the final Death Sex and Money episode for us of

2023 in the last episode from WNYC, we told you a few months ago that our team learned that due to budget cuts,

WNC needed to find a new partner or production home for our show

and that our current arrangement would come to an end at the end of this calendar year.

And here we are.

And I will tell you, we have felt enveloped by appreciation and love from so many people as we face

this transition. From listeners, former guests, podcast industry colleagues, and

also from potential new partners.

There may yet be more life in this podcast,

but I don't have anything official to announce just yet, which is annoying. Trust me I know. I would also love to know what is going to happen.

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