Just Some Thoughts...

I had a great friend pass away this week, some of you may know him, Glenn "Sam" Butchar. I first met Sam when I was on my mission in LA and you couldn't help but love him right away. He was a crusty old guy that had this tough exterior (he thought it was tough especially with his turtle tattoo :)) but he was a big softy that loved his wife and sons. What amazes me is how many people love Sam.

The first thing I was introduced to when I met Sam was his photo wall (you can see it behind Hana in the photos below). People would often send Sam and Joan photos requesting a space on the wall, but let me tell you it was not easy to get a frame hung on that wall. It took me two and half years, a marriage, and living with them for a month to get a photo up there. The great thing about the photos were not the new faces that would make it to the wall but the constants that were there. There are a couple that stand out to me, the obvious one is the first photo I ever saw of Samantha (named after Sam) was up there, the next is a picture of my mother in law sitting on a deck by the lake, these photos (and a couple of others) remind me of the impact that Sam has had on our family. If not for Sam I don't know that I would be married to Samantha today, so I hate to say that will always be in his debt but I guess I will be.

He also had photos of his boys that were permanent, those photos illustrated how important family really was to Sam and in many cases they represented a better time and place but simply through those photos he/we can be transported back to that time and the memories that were associated with it. My dad introduced me to the works of Wordsworth and in particular Daffodils:

I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o'er Vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

4th verse
For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.

As with the daffodils and our memory the photos are a stimulus to remind of our loved ones and good memories. May we all carry in our hearts a photo wall to remind us of good times, family and friends, at the same time look forward our next encounter with a field of daffodils.