to bob

i don't think i've ever talked about it here, but in december of 2001 one of my good friends from highschool passed away. it was very sudden, and the first time i'd ever experienced the death of someone close to me who hadn't lived a full life: someone too young, whose life was cut short.

my group of friends in highschool was very close. i went to a boarding school, although i didn't live on campus. and while a lot of my friends were day students as well, several of our group were not, and even those of us who were local didn't live in the same town as one another. so it was with some panic that we realized, near the end of senior year, that it was likely we would not all congregate together in the same place again for quite some time. we would all scatter to go home for the summer - some of us to various US states, some of us as far away as tahiti - and then scatter again further to go to college, and who knew when we would all find ourselves in the same place again at the same time.

our friend bob decided to help immortalize that spring for us. he took hundreds of photos and printed out doubles of every single one, passing out the extras amongst all the rest of us. but even better, he and our other techie friends created a cd for us all. he had each of us record a message in private, and pick a favorite song, then compiled all of it together onto one fantastic cd and made copies for each of us.

he and our friend cindy had been practicing a recording of "blackbird" that spring - cindy sings beautifully, and bob was great on guitar - and he included their recording on the cd for all of us. for me, that song will always be bob's song.

i went to wolftrap tonight and saw an incredible show: tristan prettyman, the john butler trio, and g love & the special sauce. and as part of the encore, g love and john butler performed a gorgeous version of blackbird together.

bobby, i don't think i believe in the traditional idea of heaven, but wherever you are: know that i sang that song to you tonight.