Memory of Christmas Eve Past

This Christmas Eve, John’s Mom and Dad took JW’s brother and sister to a Redskins game at Fedex Field for their Christmas gift.  It was a great time, especially the tailgating and great seats in the first row of the upper deck on the 50 yard line.  It was also a typically frustrating Redskins game, with the Skins somehow losing to the 2-12 Vikings after having beat the Giants twice this season and almost beating the Patriots.  More than anything else, however, it also brought back fond memories of an earlier Christmas Eve Redskins game.

It was Christmas Eve, 2005 – JW’s penultimate Christmas and his last spent at home (in 2006, he spent Christmas w/Alex’s family in San Francisco).  It was at that earlier Christmas Eve that JW and his brother Mike treated their Papa, their Uncle Ken, their sister and well as their Dad to a Redskins game for Christmas.  Actually, it was John’s Dad’s first Redskins game and tailgating experience at Fedex Field.  Some memories from that game:

• The Redskins actually winning, beating the Giants 35-20 and thus securing a wild card playoff spot – beating Tampa Bay in the subsequent first playoff round, only to lose to Seattle in the second;

• The guys actually springing for an “Orange” parking pass so that their Papa didn’t have to walk that far to the stadium;

• Everyone being concerned for Uncle Ken since he was wearing a Giants cap – thus he was always escorted to the restroom;

• Papa being especially interested in using the field glasses when the cheerleaders were on the field; and

• Everyone (including three 6’ + guys) creating a protective phalanx around Papa when it came time to leave so as to ensure he would not be knocked down by the bustling crowd!

This year's Christmas Eve game, of course, was different with neither JW nor Papa able to be there with us.  It was also different in another couple of ways.  First of all, as indicated in the photo to the right, the very seats we sat in during the Christmas Eve 2005 game no longer exist; what with Dan Snyder having torn them out after coming to the realization that the seats were so undesirable, he could not even sell them to the 15,000 or so fans on a waiting list for season tickets. Even more importantly, since 2005, the quality of our tailgating has increased tremendously.  For that prior Christmas Eve game, all we had were a couple of six packs and a bag or two of chips with everyone standing around the rear bumper of the car.  This year (click on the photo below to access an album for Christmas Eve 2011), in addition to having a cooler-full of beer, some chairs and a table, along with a grill, a canopy and a corn hole game, we also had epicurean delights to include cheese and crackers, Italian sausage and potatoes, as well as “antipasto on a stick,” all followed by some good Irish whiskey and an excellent cigar and then some post-game hot chocolate and homemade cranberry nut-bread.  When comparing the difference in quality between the two tailgating events, John’s sis aptly pointed out that it was all due to the addition of John’s mom to the happening, she being absent from the 2005 experience.

Oh yea, we also had the fond memories of the 2005 Christmas Eve experience to keep us warm from the biting wind in the parking lot this year.  Thanks, for the memories John – and is it true that in heaven the Redskins never lose?

Memories of Christmas Eve Past

True Motivation in Life

"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first and lessons later." During life, different things keep us motivated to finish the test. I recently returned from a long DoD professional course which took me out of the local area for the last couple of months. During that course, days were long and testing was complex and tedious. However, there were two things pinned up to the wall of my small, bland governmental colored cubicle which motivated me through the toughest of times. Those two items were a picture of Ariana and a copy of John's professional obituary.

A great fond memory of John comes from the Summer of 2006. For the 4th of July celebration, we took the jeep out to Reston for a party there followed by some cheesy neighborhood fireworks which obtained the award for least amount of traffic after a fireworks show in the DC area. During that night, we got into a conversation about my recent experiences in Iraq, and John expressed a sentiment which was usually not expressed between siblings, especially those who fought constantly about who got dibbs on the top bunk bed when we were growing up. The sentiment he expressed was how very proud he was of me. I still remember that conversation vividly, since those words are not uttered as much as they should be. I see it as very fitting that he inspired and motivated me through my professional challenges and accomplishments in the last four years.

The symbol of a small piece of paper tacked to a cubicle wall summed up a large motivation in my life. Looking back, I never took the opportunity to express how proud I was of him and everything he did for me. But, who would ever do that to a big brother? He was the older, more experienced one. But now I got to play catch up. This one piece of paper was my way to tell him in a small way of how proud I am and continue to be of him.

Sort of like parents creating a blog and memorial fund in his memory.

John's Global Memorial Fund

For the next several years, John's parents have decided to attempt to give a more global impact to JW's legacy while maintaining the heretofore twofold focus of the fund: youth and technology. This will be accomplished by creating a fund to support the World Movement for Democracy, a global network of democrats, including activists, practitioners, academics, policy makers, and funders, who have come together to cooperate in the promotion of democracy.  More details on his fund can be found here.

We've established a goal of raising $25,000 by the time of the Assembly in October 2012.  To date, from family and friends, over $21,000 has been pledged and raised.  For those interested in assisting in furthering John's legacy, and helping achieve this goal, tax-deductible contributions can be made to the National Endowment for Democracy and mailed to:

John William Leonard Memorial Fund
c/o World Movement for Democracy
National Endowment for Democracy
1025 F St., NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20004

John's Continuing Presence

To recognize JW's continuing presence in the lives of so many people, to include a young boy who was merely an infant when JW died, see this beautiful blog post by John's sister-in-law.