MERRY CHRISTMAS 2010

It's been a crazy year which didn't allow for many posts. But, for those of you who still check in, I have something special planned for 2011. You might want to start checking back around Bill's birthday. For those who have contacted me in the last year (or more) and haven't been acknowledge, that is coming as well

Until then, here's my Christmas greeting to you. I hope you enjoy yours as much as we have enjoyed ours (so far). May the true meaning of the season stay with you everyday.

SADLY, IT'S BEEN 4 YEARS

Today marks the 4th anniversary of my brother's death. I had a strange thing happen to me this morning. While I was getting ready to attend mass with my parents and my wife, I put on one of Bill's watches. Although I never had an issue with the watch prior to today, I noticed that the watch had stopped at 8:25 and no matter what I tried, I could not get it to move. Finally, around 9:00 the watch started to function again.

After mass, I started to think about the day that Bill died. I remember my parents saying that they spoke to him around 7:00 PM that day. I couldn't help but think that maybe Bill was sending a message that he died around 8:25. It seems that every few months I get another one of these messages. It's like the clues surrounding Paul McCartney's "death" in the sixties. I guess you believe what you want to believe and I will choose to believe that these are messages from my brother.

If you pray, please say a prayer for my brother.


Last year, on March 22, Bill's friend Donna from NYU sent me a message with some words that a friend passed to her to comfort her when her brother passed away. And, although Donna indicated that the words were to me, I would now like to share them.

THE SHIP

I am standing upon the seashore.

A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and start for the blue ocean.

She is an object of beauty and strength.

I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where sea and sky come down to mingle with each other.

THen someone at my side says "There! She's gone."

Gone where?

Gone from my sight. That is all.

She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side.

Her diminished size is in me, not her.

And just at that moment when someone at my side says "There she's gone," there are other eyes watching her coming...

And other voices ready to take up the glad shout, "There she comes!"


(Note to Donna: Since this is the only way I have to communicate, thanks for the message. I hope that you will send an email this year. I have a few questions that you may be able to answer and I would love the opportunity to ask.)

HIS 58TH BIRTHDAY

Today would have been Bill's 58th birthday. As I often find myself thinking, I was wondering what would have been and I am pretty convinced that he would have gotten himself involved in what seems like a permanent part of the movie industry, 3-D productions.

Here's a picture of Bill that has recently been added to my collection. Thanks to Rob Ewing for sending it to my mom & dad. Rob guesses that the photo is from the late 90s.