Mom..it's been 17 years.

Me with my brother Michael and Mom in her kitchen, thanksgiving 1987, Newport, Oregon. :)

me in Newport, Oregon at Jump Off Joe's with Stevie, Jeremy & Melissa, 1986 or 87?

Mom thought it was hilarious that Michael and I always gave each other a hard time! T-Giving 1987

Dear Mom, it's been 17 years since you slipped away...scattering your ashes into the ocean, your presence known far and wide to those of whose lives you touched. Even now a day never goes by when I don't think about you... you are "with me" constantly, and I can still hear your voice...Can you believe that the 50th Anniversary of the Beatles' arrival on the Ed Sullivan Show is coming up in less than two weeks? Remember how excited we were and how we became instant Beatles fans and how we'd rush out to get all the albums...didn't matter whether they were compilations, albums, whatever..we listened to them all. I especially remember when we walked down Haight St. to that record store called Geological Rock Shop (the shop you and bro Michael thought would sell geological rocks, but it turned out to be a record store and we all laughed and so did the hippies who ran the store)... and we waited in line to purchase Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band, the Beatles' latest album! Mom, they made movies out of all the JRR tolkien books...they're pretty good. I think you'd like them. I am not sure if you'd be horrified or excited by how The Hobbit was stretched into three movies! the effects are amazing and the characters are portrayed well...BUT STILL! You'd probably love that movie, Saving Mr. Banks though because it's about one of your favorite authors, P.L. Travers. You would have totally agreed with her...now I understand why you were the only person who got upset when the Disney movie, Mary Poppins came out...

FOUR GENERATIONS - Newport, Oregon 1986. with my Grandma and my Mom and my kids.

ANYWAY, Mom, I still struggle to get places on time, but I'm getting better...and I still haven't unpacked all my boxes, but I don't have as many anymore. and I still have your books...I can never part with those. We never picked up the TV you left us cuz it's a console and I never drove a truck to Jan and Bill's in Oregon. now everyone watches these flat screen thingies. today I will think of you and sing some Beatles songs, our favorites. baby Jeremiah loves to sing them too...then there are those folk songs... oh Mom, please say hi to Pete Seeger who just joined you...I know how much you loved and admired him...especially that he was not afraid to stand up for what he believed in... it seems like just yesterday when you left...know that we love you and will never forget you!