The Warmth of a Brother's Love

In what may become a Thanksgiving tradition, John's mom presented John's sister with the latest in a series of quilts made, in part, out of remnants of John's clothes.  The latest outcome of countless hours of labor and love on the part of John's mom is an Irish quilt with shamrocks and the following Irish blessing in the middle:

May you always have ...

Walls for the wind,

A roof for the rain,

Tea beside the fire,

Laughter to cheer you

And those you love near you.

As you'll see when you click on the below picture in order to see all the photos in the special album, the shirt that JW had on in the above brother/sister photo taken in Dublin on St. Patrick's Day, 2005 is now an integral part of the quilt.

The Warmth of a Brother

In addition, all of John's mom's quilts from the past several years can be seen below.

When I Call a Name

For the first time the other night, I heard one of the songs (actually a spoken piece) from the Vin Scelsa broadcast of April 7, 2007, which I have always considered a Requiem for John.  The music is When I Call a Name and only now did I realize that it is from the opening scenes of a 2005 film, Me and You and Everyone We Know.  The lyrics somehow seem apropos and can be found below the link to the song on YouTube.




she: if you really love me, let's make a vow.
right here, together, right now. okay?

he: okay

she: alright, repeat after me. i'm gonna be free.

he: i'm gonna be free.

she: and i'm gonna be brave.

he: i'm gonna be brave.

she: good. i'm gonna live each day as if it were my last.

he: oh, that's good.

she: you like that?

he: yeah

she: say it.

he: i'm gonna live each day as if it were my last.

she: fantastically.

he: fantastically.

she: courageously.

he: courageously.

she: with grace.

he: with grace.

she: and in the dark of the night...

he: and it does get dark.

she: when i call a name

he: when i call a name

she: it'll be your name... what's your name?

he: nevermind.

she: let's go. say it.

he: let's go.

she: everywhere.

he: everyhere.

she: even though

he: even though

she: we're scared.

he: we're scared.

she: cause it's life.

he: it's life.

she: and it's happening. it's really really happening, right now...