Wow, Aaron. Ya got me. All I can think of are these words from Jim Valvano’s speech at the first Espy Awards. He was dying of cancer, and he knew it. He said this, in part:

“To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.”

You’ve given me a very full day, something special, indeed. The songs, none of which I’d ever heard before. Your memories. What they mean to you and why. The experience you shared with your siblings when your sister passed. Your spiritual/musical connection with Brian. The Five Invitations, which is now on my Amazon Wish List but will be in my home soon. (Thank you for the offer of sending yours.) And most of all, of course, your humanity.

Because some (not all) of my musical tastes have harder edges, I have these lyrics on my mind quite often:

Love is only what we come to live,
The waking, breathing, and all we give,
A crystal passing reflected in our eyes,
Eclipsing all the jealousy and lies.

They come from this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZwv8wH-C0Q

I hope this doesn’t sound weird, but I can’t trivialize your last message here by clapping for it. It’s too emotionally substantial and profound. Instead, I’ll thank you for it … sincerely. And I’ll tell you I feel better about the world knowing you’re in it, just knowing you’re out there.

Thank you for being out there.