I still can't take much time to write so I'll have to catch up later.
The party was as perfect as it could be. We had about 100 people. So many people in one place who were all there to honor Jim and surround the girls and me with pure love. I will always remember how wonderful and beautiful it was.
And, oh! An amazing bonus. Dan showed up! He didn't think he was going to be able to make it but Carol shoved him out the door and made him get on a plane. Most of you know that Dan was Jim's best friend. He and Carol have been so good to us over the years. I'm going to use that "words cannot describe" cliche but with Dan it's really true. Seeing him walk up out of the dark made me feel loved and safe and helped me to really know that everything is going to be ok. It also made me feel so sad that he has lost Jim. A mixed bag of feelings there.
Anyway, I'll write more later.
2 comments:
Ok, I couldn't come up with a narrative-type memory of Jim that said anything about the kind of guy he was yesterday. But today, it hits me.
Ken asked me how I met Jim. And I really don't recall that specific time. But the first time I ever really spent any time around Jim was at one of our hoedowns at the Lang's. Donita and I, along with many other kids in our church's youth group always performed as a "band."
There were more make-shift percussionists than anything else in this band. A couple of guys played guitar and we had a tone-deaf bass player.
I think it may have been the last hoedown I performed in because I was weaning myself away from organized religion.
The line-up grew longer every year and I'm sure this year the show ran at least four hours. There was a Barbershop quartet, plus the Citrus belters Barbershop chorus, a quartet of teenage girls, a chorus of mothers, a singing minister, and Jim and a friend of his doing "Long, Tall Texan."
Anyway, Jim actually brought musicianship to this group and made us sound much better than we were. He was also very enthusiastic about the opportunity to make music with us.
I also remember that we played on into the night and, even after we sang our finale and the crowd had begun to disperse, he wanted to continue playing and invited us all to stay.
I think this was what was great about Jim. You didn't have to be at his level for him to be supportive. He enjoyed the effort.
I remember he once told me about a time when he and a band (I think the Klones) were playing at a beach gig (?), outdoors in the glare of the sun. When they came upto play, the sun had traveled to a point in the sky facing the stage. Jim said the he and the band played on much longer than they had to, getting scorched by the sun, but happy for the chance to make music.
It was The Fossils and the gig was in Tomales, near the coast. Yep, they got toasted that day but enjoyed every minute of it.
Yes, it was probably one of the last Hoedowns. I think he played for the last two we had. Those jug bands were actually pretty good considering we were just a bunch of goofball teenagers.
Jim raised the bar.
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