{"id":2179,"date":"2011-04-12T11:56:13","date_gmt":"2011-04-12T15:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johncohn.org\/base\/?p=2179"},"modified":"2011-04-12T11:56:13","modified_gmt":"2011-04-12T15:56:13","slug":"tuesday-morning-speaker-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/johncohn.org\/base\/2011\/04\/12\/tuesday-morning-speaker-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday morning &#8211; speaker notes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m pretending to work today.. but I just keep my mind on it.. Diane is out getting pictures printed for Dylan&#8217;s service tomorrow.. In between conference calls I&#8217;m working on a program for the service.and get stickers printed. I so much remember how strange it felt putting together the program for Sam&#8217;s memorial.. who would speak ? who would sing.. how many people would come.. and above all.. what would I say.. would I be able to speak at all ?<\/p>\n<p>While I was looking I came across the notes I wrote for Sam&#8217;s memorial.. I remember what it was like looking down from the stage and seeing all those people.. I choked up a little.. but when I started talking.. It just kept coming.. I didn&#8217;t really need my notes..\u00a0 Here&#8217;s what I said&#8230; more or less..<\/p>\n<p>Thanks<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It <strong>means so much to me<\/strong>, to us, to see you all here \u00a0today.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>love people have shown<\/strong> through past week, at our home on Thursday. At concert Friday and today is overwhelming\u00a0 Love and support of our family and friends we will be forever grateful<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reminds us<\/strong> so powerfully how much \u00a0Sam was loved<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>About Sam<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sam was \u2026 <strong>beautiful inside\/out<\/strong>.. He had that radiant 1000 watt smile. You all knew it. He wore it always.. and it could melt your heart.\u00a0 It always melted mine.<\/li>\n<li>He was the <strong>truest, most honest, and independent person<\/strong> I have ever met. He knew who he was, knew what he wanted.\u00a0 Anything he did: music, sports, snowboarding.\u00a0 He\u00a0\u00a0 did it to <strong>his standards<\/strong>, no one else\u2019s .<\/li>\n<li>He <strong>loved life.. he loved his parents, his brothers<\/strong>, his family.. his friends .. his pets.. \u00a0his passions. Sam packed so much into his short life. he traveled, he explored. He ran full speed into the world.<\/li>\n<li><strong>He loved Vermont<\/strong>. He was all about snow, water, sun\u2026 dirt.. Lots of dirt.\u00a0 As he grew, We watched him do backflips off the rope swing, on his snowboard upside down and spinning.. Flips in midair\u00a0\u00a0 tubing down the Huntington always with that smile. I always covered my eyes. He was so strong.. so sure footed..\u00a0 he always came out OK.<\/li>\n<li>Not to say he always landed it\u2026 <strong>He broke bones, cracked ribs sprained joints<\/strong>.. and he would laugh. The day he died he called to tell me about the cuts he\u2019d gotten on the beach skim boarding in Florida with friends. \u201cDad\u2026 I got these really cool cuts on my legs\u201d\u2026.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sam was a loyal and generous friend<\/strong>. His circle of friends crossed ages, schools, cliques..\u00a0 so many interests, types\u2026\u00a0 music, sports. Friends from preschool, neighbors\u2026 he loved people.. and people loved him. He loved most of you in this room.. and I know you loved him, too.<\/li>\n<li>Sam would have loved knowing that there are 4 people somewhere in Florida living today because of the <strong>organs he donated<\/strong>. It makes me feel good that my son\u2019s heart is beating in someone else\u2019s son or daughter\u2026 That was so in keeping with Sam\u2019s generous spirit.<\/li>\n<li>As we think back over Sam\u2019s 14 years, we have <strong>no regrets<\/strong>.. He was surrounded by love every day.. We can\u2019t honestly recall ever being really mad at him.. or him at us (except perhaps trying to get him out of the shower on a school day) He hugged us everyday .. well past the age we might still expect that. \u00a0He had this sensitive emotional radar that would pick up the moods of the people around him. He always knew when to comfort.. what question to ask\u2026 when to give a hug.<\/li>\n<li>I loved Sam so much\u2026 \u00a0<strong>He was such a good friend<\/strong> to me\u2026. Last year, we spent many late hours talking about our lives.. over homework.. his and mine. His values had started to change mine\u2026 I\u2019m still learning to be more like Sam\u2026\u00a0\u00a0 Someday I\u2019d like to have my priorities as clear as his.. my values as absolute, my passions as strong,<\/li>\n<li>Oh.. <strong>I will miss<\/strong> his bright goofy smile, his mischievous laugh, .. the hugs I got from those wicked strong arms\u2026 the late night talks.. and his music\u2026 Oh, his music, Hardcore to Bach.. .is still playing in my heart.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Those of you who know us, know that there <strong>is a lot of love in our family<\/strong>. We were blessed and we knew it. That love makes us feel Sam\u2019s loss so strongly now\u00a0\u00a0 Diane, Max, Gabe and I are so strong in our love for Sam and for each other. That with all of your help\u2026 we will \u00a0get through this\u2026\u00a0 While I can\u2019t imagine it now, I believe we can get us back to having joy in our lives\u2026.<\/li>\n<li>I am going to choose <strong>every day to honor Sam\u2019s memory<\/strong>.. \u00a0To go forward.. not backward. To do something good for the world. I am going to try to take his passion into my own life and become a better person for it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>You can help us keep Sam\u2019s memory alive<\/strong> by hugging your kids or parents really hard every day.<\/li>\n<li>You can do something good for someone else and do it with Sam on your mind. Start by making sure you carry <strong>an organ donor card<\/strong>, if your personal beliefs allow it. \u00a0If you\u2019re a kid\u2026 get out of the shower when your parents ask you to.<\/li>\n<li>You can also <strong>Capture some of Sam\u2019s<\/strong> spirit.\u00a0 Find your passions.\u00a0 Be more sure of yourself.. smile a little brighter\u2026play more music, \u00a0be more there for others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Close<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There are no good words to describe the sadness we feel in losing Sam. But I can tell you how much <strong>love and pride we feel<\/strong> for having him as a son, brother, and friend.<\/li>\n<li>Again, We are amazed and grateful at the love and support of our family and friends and the community, and we know Sam is as well.<\/li>\n<li><strong>We love you Sam, always<\/strong>. \u00a0\u00a0Goodbye my beautiful Son.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>it&#8217;s so hard reading that even 4 and a half years later&#8230;\u00a0\u00a0 but a good cry was what I needed this morning..<\/p>\n<p>My advise to folks who are planning on saying something tomorrow at  the service is not to worry about it.. just speak from your heart.. and  if you find you can&#8217;t speak.. don&#8217;t worry about that either..<\/p>\n<p>let&#8217;s all be there for Dylan.. see you tomorrow 1:30\u00a0 at Bolton Lodge<\/p>\n<p>cu folks , cu Sam<\/p>\n<p>-me<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m pretending to work today.. but I just keep my mind on it.. Diane is out getting pictures printed for Dylan&#8217;s service tomorrow.. In between conference calls I&#8217;m working on a program for the service.and get stickers printed. I so much remember how strange it felt putting together the program for Sam&#8217;s memorial.. who would &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/johncohn.org\/base\/2011\/04\/12\/tuesday-morning-speaker-notes\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Tuesday morning &#8211; speaker notes<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[122,124],"class_list":["post-2179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-dylan","tag-speaker-notes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/johncohn.org\/base\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/johncohn.org\/base\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/johncohn.org\/base\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/johncohn.org\/base\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/johncohn.org\/base\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2179"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/johncohn.org\/base\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2181,"href":"http:\/\/johncohn.org\/base\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2179\/revisions\/2181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/johncohn.org\/base\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/johncohn.org\/base\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/johncohn.org\/base\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}