Late night – short report. I had a really full day with back to back meetings at work that went from 7:30 AM until 5:00, 6:00 if you count the phone calls I returned at the end of the day. OK.. to be fair.. the last meeting of the day wasn’t so tough, it was a reception for some folks at work who’d recently gotten promoted.. They were actually serving beer and wine in the IBM cafeteria.. We’ve come a long way since T.J. Watson !
After work I met my friend and work colleague Garry for dinner.. we were heading towards Mexecali (my favorite).. but their computer was down so thy had to close. We walked over to Nicco’s instead and sat outside. The food was excellent.. and so was the weather. It was really great talking to Garry. He and I are in the same department.. Until recently, Garry was working here in Vermont, but living near Poughkeepsie NY. Every week he’d commute back and forth.. a few months back he was able shift most of his job back down to NY.. which is much better for his family life.. but leaves me as a department of 1 here in VT .The last couple of times Garry’s been up, I’ve been out of town. … so our meeting was long overdue. We talked about work, people, life, family, and Sam… Garry’s a thoughtful and wise person.. it was fun to connect. Mid way through dinner we heard a loud clatter and saw a kid pushing another kid as fast as he could in a shopping cart.,.. it was Mikey pushing and Casey in cart… I told Mikey to keep the receipt .. I wish I’d managed to get a picture of them. About a half our later two women walked up to us.. One of them approached me and asked me if I was me.. I mean.. she asked if I was john cohn. When I said I was, se said something like ‘this is to show how powerful Sam is’ .She told me that she’d never seen me,, never seen a picture of me.. had not seen my Sam button.. but had figured out that was Sam’s dad by ‘my energy’ from seeing me across the restaurant. She then introduced herself as Jeannie L. a new friend of Diane’s . . Our common thread is a sad one. Jeannie’s 8 year old daughter Ila died 3 years ago. Our friend Mark knows Jeannie through a number of connections. Mark connected her to Diane and they’ve gotten together several times to share stories. We talked about Sam and Ila.. and about other parts of our very changed lives. It is such a strange bond we have with others that have suffered a loss like ours.. but it’s such a strong connection. I could have spoken with her all night. Garry was kind enough to snap a picture of Jeannie, Me and Jeanie’s friend Sue.. (I just realized I didn’t get a picture of Garry !)
Several months ago Jeannie gave us a very cool picture she call’s Ila’s Moon. It’s a beautiful picture of the full moon .. which was very special to Ila’s life. On the picture is a poem that a friend ‘s daughter, Alyssa, had written for her.
Ila’s Moon by Alyssa T
If you are up at half past nine
When the moon is up in the starlit sky.
You will know why the moon is there
To shine a bright glittery trail.
To a place where happiness is all there is
No wars, no guns, no need to fight.
That’s the place I’ll be tonight.
We have that picture on our ‘Sam table’ downstairs.
After Jeannie and Sue left, Garry and I talked for a good bit more then I ran into BestBuy to do a bit of Max birthday shopping. I was surprised to find Mikey working there looking very professional !
At that point it was about 9:30… I decided to go to the Inn at Essex to meet up with another old friend Mike (note this is the third Mike for the night… Open Mike Night !) who was visiting from Minnesota for the day. I’ve worked with this mike for more than 25 years (!!!).. we go way back and have had many good times together over the years..
He was traveling with our mutual friend Jeff J. the two of them had stumbled into another colleague of ours, Mitani-san from Tokyo,.. It was like old home week at the Inn at Essex….. It was great catching up with all of them.. It was about 11:30 before I headed home.. Now I’m beat and need to sleep.. What a full day..
I love people. I love my family.. I love you Sam.. Gnite
-jc
