hearts a bustin' with love

David Stewart

ah, Dave,

much of who I am 

coalesced out of the swirling maelstrom of the Sixties and Seventies,

years when we were much together with each other,

a time when circumstance and choice

swirled us together a lot,

I treasure my memories with you then,

the floor games in the control room of the Language Lab,

hiking and exploring the Smokies,

you and Stupka our flower experts,

the Waltons and good meals together,

sharing our kids with each other,

our “Little Woofer” and your Emily, then Ike and Jacob,

going up Greenbrier to the high bridge without a railing,

and your overwhelming love and concern for Emily

flummoxed you and I was honored to be able to help her across the bridge,

sharing Friends School with you all as fellow staff, 

you and Karen as CFS parents,

then you on the Board, then Chair of the Board,

helping to hold us together,

your getting me started with meditation decades ago,

a discipline which I follow religiously every day,

as more recent swirling maelstroms have carried us apart,

I still treasure our connections with you,

your love, your being there, fully for us, for Ann,

then for us, again, with the loss of Ann,

all extraordinary,

I loved your all’s wedding above the cabin,

and then the fireworks!

when one misfired, 

your dad shouted: “Look out, Mother!”

 hearts are a’bustin’ with love,

and you are in our hearts.

by Henry H. Walker

September 21,  ’15