Wednesday night – saying goodbye to elijah

We left home around 8:30 to get to the church on time … Diane and i parked at the moskas walked.. gabe parked at chris's because he had to be ther early.. he and the other members of the lacrosse team were there to provide an honor guard for elijahs casket..

as we walked to the church, elijahs family drove by.. his dad, gary, stopped and his mom,tammy, opened the window.. we hugged each other .. and neither of us knew what to say.. Elijahs brother snd sisters were in the back of that van… I looked in and saw the love and the hurt they all felt. They're a wonderful and strong family… And they have a long road in front of them… We will all be there for them..

Elijah's family were active members of the congregational church in jericho and devout christians. By the time we got there , the tiny church was packed .the sanctuary was full upstairs as was the basement where we were. By the time the service started at 10 there were people spilling out into the green. Thee must have been 400 people there… This family is so well loved by our community

The service was pretty traditional.. There were two pastors.. Some readings.. Some songs.. Though the songs were new to me.. Many in the audience knew them and sang them well.. There was a short time for people to share memories of Elijah.. I knew him only through sports.. Where i knew him to be funny and strong.. He was many other things.. A hard worker on his parents farm, a very accomplished percussionist (he didn't like the word drummer).. An active member of his church.. And about to enlist in the marine corp on his 18th birthday.. Which would be sept 2nd.

Elijah's mother Tammy read a beautiful blog post she'd written just 3 weeks ago about elijahs approaching departure for the marines.. It was so sweet and beautiful and so sad.. She talked about elijahs big strong hands and how they were like her husbands… Elijahs girlfriend Crystal also spoke beautifully as did two of his friends from his youth group.. The memories rounded out the picture of this big strong , handsome and well loved kid …

At the end of the service… Elijahs coffin was carried out between a set of marine guards,, and all his lacrosse teammates with their lacrosse sticks.. Everyone was crying their eyes out… Including me.

Several folks have asked me today if going to a young person's funeral brings back painful memories of Sam's death… It doesn't… In that .. There is no 'bringing back' of those memories,. They a with us always.. What it does do is instantly link my heart to the family and friends.. Mostly to the parents.. Their path will surely be different than ours.. They sang hymns, we sang Nirvana… But. In the end, the same strong family ties and deep friendship of our community will bear them through.. I know it will.. And i know it will take time.. Lots of time..

Lets all keep elijah in our hearts.. And be there for his family.. They are going to need us all.

Nite all, nite sam

-me

 

Tuesday night – paying respects

Around four this afternoon we all went over to Elijah Davis house to pay our respects. There were hundreds of people there. There were so many cars on the family's one lane road that there was no place left to drive. The line stretched way past the house. The family has a beautiful farm on Cilly Hill Road . The back yard was full of kids From the high school Most seem to be doing alright.

We waited for nearly an hour and then actually had to leave to get back for a meeting. Gabe was able to go in to say hello. The crowd was pretty quiet. People talking quietly among themselves. Some tears even some quiet laughter the. Everyone with the same sort of grim smile. There was a lot of love and respect out there. You can tell the family has deep roots here. This town has been through this so many times. We know how to do this… It just doesn't seem fair.

Tomorrow Elijah's funeral will be in the small Congregationalist Church on the Green is Jericho Center. His family is very involved at church ally should play drums and sang. If today was any indication the church and the town will be packed With folks who want to support Elijah and his family.

More tomorrowNight all, night sam– Me

 

Monday night – sam in space

Long day driving back from  armonk. The whole way back I was thinking about Elijah and his family. Visiting hours are tomorrow and memorial service is on Wednesday..    Can’t get his family out of my mind.. Guess I shouldn’t let them out of my mind..

Seems a strange segue to this story I’ve been wanting to tell.. but maybe not so strange.. I got down to the Vibes late Saturday afternoon . one of the first people I saw was my friend Dave from the Discovery Museum in Bridgeport.     He seemed really eager to tell me something. The last three years we’ve seen each other at the Vibes. Dave and his friend Jeff have set up their 10″ telescope to show hippies the heavens.. it’s been really fun. Last year.. or was it the year before ? .. I gave dave a samstone..  .. He reached in his pocket and brought out that samstone.. then told me an amazing story. he and some students helped design some instrumentation for a low space rocket flight.. Along with the instrumentation, Dave put the samstone. One day in July that payload was mounted on a very large rocket and was launched into sub-orbital space about 60 miles about the earth’s surface.. It left the earths atmosphere.. then a few moments later came hurtling back towards the planet.. it landed somewhere in the atlantic ocean. One of the instruments was a radio beacon.. which allowed the whole instrument package .. including the samstone to be fished from the ocean…

 

The first samstone in space.. can you beleive it ? It’s always been one of my goals to do this.. and now its happened.. It’s amazing the ways Sam’s spirit still moves in the world..

 

 

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I am so greatful to dave and his students for putting this stone in space.. it means so much to me.. I know dave has a movie of the launch. I’ll post that when I get it too !

 

Here are a few views we got through Daves scope that night.. Here’s saturn    IMG_1963

 

and the moon.      IMG_1983

 

it’s a an amazing,sometimes sad , and wonderful world isn’t it.. ?

 

ntite all, nite sam

-me

Sunday night – Elijah Davis

I woke this morning to the very sad news that a friend of Gabe’s, Elijah Davis died in a traffic accident last night not far from his home. Elijah was a really great kid, he played Lacrosse with Gabe  for MMU. We know his parents and sister from  watching him play. They are a loving and well loved family.

Our hearts go out to Elijah, his family and the many people in the community who will miss Elijah.  I know our community will come together to be there for the Davis’s as they have for us and for others in the past. Please send your healing thoughts ..I don’t really have any good words here.. I know there aren’t any.

nite all, nite sam

-me