Here I am again.. 11PM sitting down to write when I should be going to sleep. Again I had to get some day work done at home.. and again.. it’s pushing my night later..   I can feel my life accelerating again and I really don’t want that to happen.. not yet at least.

   I got three pieces of sad news today. First I heard that my friend Joe K’s mother-in-law passed away in Lebanon last night. Joe and his wife are expecting there first baby in less than a month. They  were/are in Lebanon visiting his wife’s mother because she was ill.    An hour or so later I heard through a friend that an old soccer friend of Diane’s, Debo Laplante,  died in a car accident in Connecticut this week. Debo and Diane played on the same soccer team in 1982-1983. Just an hour later, I got a note from my friend Craig in the ‘Fathers Forever’ group,  He told me that  the 14 year old son of a friend of his died suddenly while playing Lacrosse last week.  Last week we also got the sad news that Rita from up at Bolton had died. I didn’t know her.. but I knew that she’d come to Sam’s viewing..

   Even though I don’t know these people well or at all.. their passing hits me hard. It no longer is just ‘news’ when I hear a story like this. My heart goes immediately to the person and their family. I then carry them around with me for days. I wish that I could stop the pain that other people have to feel… Its funny,  somehow I convince myself that I can bear anything.. but I can’t bear to think of people that I know and having their hearts broken.. I think it’s easier to worry about others than to worry about yourself..  Sometimes I worry about myself too..

My heart goes out to all of these people. Sam.. not sure where you are.. but if you have any sway with the powers that be.. please help these folks with their journey..   Namaste..

-jc

ps. Gabe carved these hearts out of an apple for Diane and me

 

 It’s late and I don’t have much energy to write. Today was an interesting day. It started off in the most wonderful and unusual way. Our friend  Carol had offered  Diane and me a  ‘Spa Day’ as a way to take care of ourselves following Sam’s passing. What a generous and thoughtful offer. We finally got around to taking her up on it this morning. The day started inauspiciously,  with trouble brewing at work.. There were several ’emergency’ meetings being called that I was asked to attend.. but that would have meant screwing up our plans with Carol.. so I chose personal life over work.. We headed over to her shop at around 9.  First she had us sit in their hot tub and drink tea.. exactly the opposite of a normal hectic Monday in my life. After we were thoroughly  soaked.. she took us both inside and started working on us. First she had us  soak our feet in some blue hot bubbly water  that really felt good.. 

The she rubbed our feet  some goo with scratchy stuff  (I think it was sugar) in it.   It really felt good. Then she stuck us back in to soak.. My feet already felt wonderful. While each of us was soaking, she lead the other one off for a shampoo and scalp massage.  Ahhhh.  Luckily for Carol .. my scalp is much easier to reach than Diane’s.

 

 After that she started working on our feet with various tools that looked like torture implements.. but felt good ,

She poked and prodded our feet then  started filing off all the rough stuff. For mine she almost had to go and get a belt sander.  Then she coated our feet with some sort of wax and wrapped them in plastic bag and let them soak. She then took of the wax and rubbed our feet with some good smelling stuff. And we were done.   I didn’t want to stand up my feet felt so good.

 Midway through the treatment, Carol’s husband Michael came in.

The four of us had a good time talking. They told us about their trip to Mexico a few weeks back They stayed in the same hotel that Sam, Diane and I stayed in last June.. It was nice to think of them having fun in that same hotel.. we have such great memories of that trip with Sam. 

They  took some SamStones and placed them at some great places.. like in  a sacred Cenote (a fresh water sink-hole) and on the coral reef. They got pictures and even made us copies. I’ll get those scanned in and share them with everyone.  They also had a SamStone in their fish tank in the shop

 

     Michael’s in the merchant  marine and spends something like 6 weeks at sea.. then six weeks at home. He has some wild stories bout parts of the world that he gets to see.. He also is a fantastic home brewer.. We got to sample one of his Kolsch’s while we soaked..  what a great morning.    Unfortunately, I  had to  leave at noon.. .. My feet felt better than they ever had in my life.. and when your soul(s)  feel good.. the rest of you does as well.

   Unsurprisingly, that time at Carol’s was the high point of my day.. the rest of the day revolved around some new time critical projects I have to take on at work. It’s going to be a busy could of weeks coming up.. I worked through lunch,.. then zoomed home to catch Diane’s 6PM yoga class..

 

After yoga I went back in the house.. very quiet. Max is down at Pratt finishing his coursework, Scott was in NY for the night and gave was still laid up sick. He really doesn’t feel well.. sore throat. Fever and aches.. He spent the whole day watching movies like ‘the Big Labowski’.. he must have watched 6 movies today . We sat there and talked and ate with him. then Diane and Gabe put on a shoot-em-up movie that was too bloody for me.. I had to leave. I called Max to say hi..(I really miss him)  then  I then did something I haven’t done in five and a half months.. I opened my laptop and started  working ..I have to start preparing or a big meeting I’m running next week.. and ‘m running out of time.. …  But, seriously it’s the first time I’ve worked at  night since Sam died.. On one hand.. it helped me catch up for today.. but on the other hand..  it felt like the start of a slippery slope  . I don’t want to get back in that mode of working 2-4 hours per night like I’ve been doing for my entire adult life.  It really takes away from all the other stuff I need to do for myself and my family..

   Speaking of slippery slope.. staying up till 1 or 2 every night blogging can’t be good for my family.. either .. so I think I think I’ll close here..   G’nite all. G’nite Sam

-jc

 

  Last night about 30 friends of  our ‘house band’  Skanky Green showed up to celebrate the guys first big gig at Higher Ground . Folks started showing up at midnight …. We had quite a party going by about 2. 

We even managed to make a batch of SamStones.  I crept off to bed at about 2:30, while Diane stayed up with Max to help him gather his schoolwork and pack all his supplies for his trip to Pratt today. My job was to drive him to the Train station in Rutland in the morning to catch e 1045 to NYC. . Max has been working around the clock the last week or so getting ready to go back to Pratt to turn in his last semester’s work. I’ve been really proud of how he’s focused over the past week. Some of his stuff is really amazing. His film project ‘Tint’ was shot in black and white 8mm film then digitized. It’s really an amazing piece of work.. That boy is so creative.

   I woke around 7:30, woke Max and we were on the rode by 8 as planned. We got down to Rutland in an hour and a half. When we got there we found the station empty and locked. I looked at the posted schedule and realized that the train ran at 10:45 AM every day but Sunday .. On Sunday it left at something like 5:45 PM.   Each of the three of us had assumed that the other had checked the time.. When we figured out the micup.. what was there to do but laugh ?! I was the famous Cohn problem with time. I quickly got Diane on the phone and she helped us figure out that there was a train leaving from Albany NYC at 12 noon. At that point it was 10AM and the car was telling me that the train station in Albany was 2 hours and 20 minutes away.. We’ really had to zoom.  I drove as fast as my little Prius  would go.  By the time we were nearing Albany, we had made up some of the time.. but ti was clearly going to be close.. We had 18 miles to go and 20 minutes to do it. Soon we were 3 miles away form the station with 5 minutes to go.. and … and … I took a wrong turn !.. Arrrrrrgh.. We got caught for a few precious minutes in downtown Albany traffic while I figure our way back to the road to the station.. We found our way and drove up to the station (or so we thought) just as the church bells all started ringing noon. We could see the train. We hopped out of the car and grabbed Max’s stuff. I ran o r the door only to find it locked.. The station looked abandoned… That’s when we realized out mistake.. the  new station was right next store.. We ran towards it.. We had to run up three flights of staris to get to the ticeket office and the access to the overpass to the tracks. I ran ahead with Max’s light portfolio case.. while max wrestled with his huge duffle bag. I made it to the ticked counter but the guy aid that the train had already closed it’s doors.. I ran past him as Max finally cleared the stairs. I got down to the access door to the train.. and a not very friendly women told me that it was too late .. though the train was sitting there happily just 15 feet away.. She started to lecture me about the need to be places on time..   I managed to do some internal deep breathing to keep myself from saying anything I’d regret then I focused my Jedi powers and asked her to ask the conductor if they’d take one more. She said no.. but seconds later her walkie talkie went off and the conductor said.. ‘send ’em down’.. We shuffled down the stairs.. I gave max a hug.. pushed him on the train.. and the train started moving 30 seconds later.. Yow.. what a finish !  Good luck my son !!! I’ll be thinking of you this week at Pratt ! I love you Max.. !

   I took a few minutes to get back in my body.. then shuffled off to the car and the 3 hour trip home.  The ride home was so peaceful after that rush. When I get in those quite places.. like a long car ride… I realize just how much ‘work’ I still have to do around Sam’s passing. I talked to  him nearly the whole trip.. everything I saw along the Northway reminded  me of Sam.. places we’d stopped,  music we’d liked..   Much of it is bittersweet at this point. .The rearview mirror taught me  that when I think these things, I get sort of a  sad half smile on my face. Half a smile is progress….

   On the ride back I gave my folks a quick call to my parents to see how  Deb, Hannah, Avery and Jen were enjoying their stay. The girls went down for a State Radio show last night.. and my parents graciously offered to  play innkeeper.. I could tell by my call that they were all getting along really well.. I’m sure I’ll get some good stories from Hannah and Avery when they get back.. but here are two I heard from them and my mom… First, Hannah told me that Chad Urmston , the lead from State Radio.. was still wearing his am pin on his guitar trap.. I think that is so wonderful.. The second story they told me was that Chad‘s parents turn out to be pretty good friends of my folks. They live in the same town (Sherborn, MA) and work on some committees together.. Mom had even invited them over for dinner on Friday.. but they were out of town..  My mom new all sorts of storis about Chad and his siblings.. including his sister Farley in Waitsfield.. but she did not know that we are all manic fans of his band. It is a very funny small world.  I did manage to stop o n I-74 on the way home to write Sam’s name in some snow I found.. I’ll keep doing it as long as there’s snow to write in..

I also took a cool little accidental detour through ‘Ironville’ .. The ‘birthplace of the electric age’.. It’s called that because it was the site of the first use of  an electromagnet to help control a forge. In 1833. That’s pretty early !!!

    I got home around 4 after 350 miles of driving.. It was actually all pretty relaxing except for that nerve racking 5 minutes at the train station.  Gabe was still feeling pretty sick when I got home.. He has a sore throat and feels generally rotten.. In respect  of that we all plopped down in the TV room and watched Shawn of the Dead together. Nothing ‘s better for a sore throat than a good Zombie movie.. After that we just puttered around..   I was working to add RSS feeds of the comments’ from both Sam and my MySpace pages on the SamStones. Org website.. when I stumbled across ‘Browse like a pirate’ .. and extension for the Mozilla Firefox browser. It allows you to suref the internet and see every website you visit in pirate speak.. For instance. This blog looks like this in pirate mode”.. Arggggg

Well.. it’s been a busy night .. and I’ve only had a few hours of sleep.. time for sleep . Sam.. thanks for keeping me company in the car today..

-jc

ps. Want to see something bizarre ? Diane found this link from one of her yoga friends..Imagine this guy at a party !

 

Today was an very laid back day.  I woke just before 10 after staying up too late last night blogging.  I got Max up to continue his prep for going back to Pratt tomorrow.. then I spent a few hours on some of the Sam projects I’d fallen behind on. We really need to finalize the plans’ for the Sam Cohn guitar giveaway at MMU which will happen around Sam’s birthday (May 28^th) and the Sam Cohn Scholarship at Abenaki which we’d like to be available this summer. I personally am very excited about the Guitar giveaway. We’re planning on giving away the electric, acoustic or classical guitar of the winner’s choice to one kid a year at Mount Mansfield High School. The winner each year will be chosen at random (so Sam can pick) from a selection of students who are nominated by their teachers or peers as having a ‘musical soul’ like Sam has. At Abenaki we’re working to establish a cool camper award in Sam’s name. There will be one winner chosen by the staff for each of the three two week camp periods. I find working on these memorial ideas t be very rewarding. It’s a good feeling trying to do some good around Sam’s memory,

   After a few hours of working on that stuff, Diane came back from her errands and Gabe woke up. Gabe was feeling a bit under the weather so we all hung close to home today. Not much at all happened here from 12 to 4. . It was wonderfully slow and sleepy…
  At about 4. Diane and I wandered over to the Paulsen’s for a pre-concert dinner for Skanky Green .. our ‘house’ band. . 

They were opening for Bad Fish , the Sublime cover band which was playing Higher Ground tonight at 8..but had to leave home at around 5 to get set up. It was so cute watching them get ready for their gig.. they were very excited and visibly nervous.  I was so  very proud of them.

We got to Higher Ground around 7:30  and the room was already filling up with Skanky green fans. Abbot was in a both outside selling T-shirts and copies of their new first CD. It was really professional. I got my first view of the CD> it’s got a great list of songs, including ‘The Ballad of Captain Sam’ which the band wrote for Sam. The CD itself has artwork of a dancing (skanking) man that Sam drew for the band last year.. and the whole disk is dedicated to Sam. T all made me feel very good.  The band came on promptly at 8 and started playing. They sounded so good. I was so proud watching them play.. to think , this band  started and practice in our barn… This was as close to being famous as I was likely to get.

   Skanky Green plaid about a 30 minute set… they sounded absolutely great. They were tighter than I’ve ever heard them play and they really bonded with the crowd.

The high point of the show for me was when they plaid “The Ballad of Captain Sam’, the song they wrote for Sam.. I always cry pretty hard when I hear them play that song.. I still managed to get most of it recorded.   Sorry about the shakes.. I was crying pretty hard.. I can’t begin to tell you the emotions I have around that song.. I am so grateful that these guys took the time to write such a great song for Sam.. it really captures his spirit.. I was so proud to  hear them playing it on the big stage.. at the same time.. Sam never heard it.. at least not while he was alive..  The Skanky Green set set ended way too early for me 

 

I never thought I’d be able to cram this range of emotions into the same moment.   Diane and Gabe took off after the Skanky Green set, while Gabe and I hung out to hear the other bands. .. We all milled around waiting for back up bands number 2 and 3.. It turned out that both were excellent sets.   I was glad I stayed.  He main act, Badfish.. a Sublime cover band’ finally came on around 10ish.. they were excellent too.. Gabe had had enough by that time. So we headed for home..   The band has planed a post-concert victory party at our house. It’s a few minute after 12 and I’m hearing the house fill up with people. It’s going to be a long, fun night.. I better go play host.   Sam.. I hope you enjoyed the music and the party… please hang out with us tonight. . I love you

-jc

Hear are the lyrics to the Ballad of Captain Sam  by Skany Green ( I also posted thes back in Feb.) Enjoy !