Not Forgetting Matt

Happy birthday, Matt!

Dear Matt,
Rachel had a cake in your honor tonight. Actually, she bought an angel food cake and iced it with (gag!) marshmallow fluff. I didn't realize it was your birthday until I wrote the date on the board at school. It made me sad to think that you would have been 25 today. Well, wherever you are, dear son and brother, we miss you terribly. I wish you had been around to see me get my teaching career going in Colorado.
Love, Mom

Celtic Lamentations

In December I heard an interview with harpist/singer Aine Minogue on NPR about her new CD Celtic Lamentations. The death of her father inspired her to examine musical responses to the experiences of loss and grief, eventually resulting in her new collection of songs. While she focused on music of her Celtic heritage, Minogue loked at other traditions as well. In her research she discovered that most traditional cultures devote a year to grieving over the loss of a loved one, in sharp contrast to typical shallow American culture, which expects us to "get over it" as soon as possible. When I heard this, I realized that I need to give myself more time. It makes sense because a full year allows you to experience your loss during all of the seasonal changes. Minogue says, "Ultimately, every loss is also a new invitation to be fully alive."
Here's a lovely verse included in the liner notes for the CD.

Pueblo Blessing

Peace to everyone--Lynn

Not Fade Away

Rachel,
I am very proud of you and love you very much. This CD should suit you: it is somewhat "sentimental," "quiet," etc. You should check out the band Tristezza: this CD has someone from Tristezza, but I'm not sure who.
Sorry It didn't make it in time for X-mas. it seems my tradition is "late" and "never."
I wish you the best! Keep doing what you do!
Love,
--Matt
MERRY LATE X-MAS!
Hope to see you again this summer!
P.S. Thanks for the CDs.

Old Christmas photos

The Ghost of Christmas Past

Mom--
I love you and wish you prosperity. I feel like such a fool not realizing how minute our time here is. I hope you recognize that you are a successful mother. Thank you for all the nice gifts.
I know you will like this CD. I listen to this sometimes when I'm stressing. Bob Dylan was very fortunate to find "The Band." Really it was a good collaboration. This CD shows both sides of that.
(((Last but not least -- I always loved how you draw a good "caricature" of yourself on the side/end of letters, so here is my effort at the end.)))
I love and miss you.
--Matt

Faith's photos from the funeral

Three amigas
Originally uploaded by ppfalcon.

Here are a few more photos from Matt's memorial service. I was glad to see a picture of my dear friend Alice, who flew from Phoenix to be with us. Now that the weather is turning cooler here in Ohio, it's nice to remember that sunny day in August when we were all together.

Nice picture of Lynn, Drew and Rachel.

Stories from Turtle

I remember that flyer Matt made for that show at the annex building. We had played there before and they put all these chairs out so of course everyone sat down it was very annoying and agitated Matt more than anyone. I think because he had been to some real underground shows in Colorado and it was appalling to him that people would actually sit down at a punk show. It was funny that even though he was younger than the rest of us he had more expierence with good underground music and had a better ideas for things. When he started playing with us is when we went from playing simple power chord punk to actually having some originality and he brought his style in which definitely changed our sound for the better. He was also a better vocalist than Wess and Wess was always kinda threatened by it though we all didn't care we were more about being friends and hanging out than worried about whether or not we sounded good. Thats probably why we never went anywhere, but we had alot of fun and to Matt, Brandon, Chad, and me, that's what it was all about.

P.S. Seeing Rachel all grown up in that picture reminds me of a funny story. Matt was very protective of her I remember one night we were all hangin out somewhere and we had just seen Rachel. Brandon made a comment that Rachel was going to grow up to be a very beautiful woman (which she has). Brandon meant nothing perverse by it but Matt took it the wrong way and the more he drank the more pissed he got. Eventually they duked it out then made up wth crys and hugs. I just stayed out of it but I found it funny cause afterwards we started teasing Brandon about his hot mom. I just had to share that because no one out here knew Matt that well and when you think about the way he was it was much more funny. He was always very protective over anyone he cared about. I mean he would scrap with his friends in a heart beat but if anyone messed with his friends or loved ones look out. later Turtle

Practicing music at the Lodge

A few more pics of us practicing music at the Lodge the night before Matt's funeral service. You can see Matt's ashes on the hearth behind Aunt Jeanne. We had four guitar players: Tim, Eric, Mary Ellen, and Richard. Good times.

More photos from Matt's funeral

Conway clan
Originally uploaded by ppfalcon.

Aunt Nancy sent us these photos from the service in Colorado, which is great because I hardly took any myself, and I'm really sorry I didn't take more. Rachel says she might have a few on a disposable camera lying around somewhere; I'll just post anything people send to us. As a culture we put so much effort and expense into photographing weddings; maybe we should consider photographing other important ceremonies too. It gives you kind of an unbalanced view of life to just memorialize the good times. But then, this was a good time, just very sad.