In memory of Patrick Meadows and Stephanie Shepard
First off, because a few of you are concerned: I am safe and okay.
These have been hard days here in Thousand Oaks.
Last Wednesday night an ex-Marine murdered over a dozen people at the Borderline, a popular country music spot.
Thoughts and prayers are useless. They don’t stop bullets, and they never will.
The terrorist employed his military training Continue reading “Thoughts and Prayers Are Useless”
Lee sent me some more newspaper clippings, which I’ve attached here. These highlight Patrick’s early years in music.
Our lives are like birds.
Sometimes they fly together, sometimes one is above the other, or below, but ultimately every bird falls from the sky.
And yet, we somehow still see them, always flying, even after they disappear.
When they don’t return, we can only hope that they’ve just flown away.
(inspired by a conversation with Ivonne on 13 Sep ’17)
Patrick reads this e. e. cummings poem called nobody loses all the time during a brief visit on 22 November 2011. It kinda-sorta seems appropriate for Hallowe’en.
Originally saved as 111122_114948_poem_uncle_saul.mp3. This version shrunk to fit in WordPress, and saved as 111122_114948_nobody_loses_all_the_time.mp3.
Back in January 2015, Christine asked if my Dad’s life choices affected my own. I recorded this response while driving.
Naturally in this vastly interconnected yet simultaneously disconnected world, all things impact all other things. A mosquito bite in Africa can lead to profound consequences in North America. So, yes, there were certainly aspects of his decisions that impacted me, not the least of which was his need early on to strike out on a new life while my sisters and mother and I were left behind—or maybe we were the ones that struck out and he was the one left behind… philosophically, certainly not realistically. Hell, I just lost that thought. Continue reading “How Patrick’s Life Choices Affected My Own”
Transcript of a conversation with Patrick about teaching and being a night watchman. It was very noisy in the restaurant.
Patrick: That was in Eau Gallie. [Florida]
John: Eau Gallie? Ok.
Patrick: Yeah, after that job, my mother in Winter Park had a neighbor who was the assistant principal of a Junior High school in Orlando, Florida. So she talked to him, and he arranged for me to get a job in Orlando teaching school – that’s my last teaching job in Florida.
John: But then you taught later in New York. But then you got fired from that one because of the …
Patrick: Yeah I got fired a lot of times. I tried to make a list of all the times I’ve been fired from. Very interesting. A night detective job … Continue reading “Teaching and Detective Work”
Patrick’s old friend Lee sent me the following newspaper clippings from a newspaper archive source. They announce Patrick’s marriage to Donna, the birth of their first child (me), and the death of Patrick’s mom.
I’m attaching screen shots for the closeups, as well as links to the original PDF files that Lee sent to me.
Thanks, Lee, these are really cool!
P.S. Notice even then that people had a hard time spelling “Dillon”!
Here’s a short autobiographical story by Patrick. The file is dated 12 March 2014.
In our little village here in the mountains, there is a post office still. There are two employees, one for sorting incoming mail and preparing outgoing mail, and one for attending customers, who are few. The office is open only in the morning from eight o’clock until ten-thirty, except Saturday when they stay open until eleven.
After they close, both employees begin the rounds delivering the mail. If there is a certified letter or a package that won’t fit in your mailbox, they leave a yellow notice showing in the slot, half in half out of the box. I suppose that is because nowadays when almost everyone has e-mail there is so seldom any mail you might not check. Continue reading “Certified Letter”
Patrick attended the Prescott Rally with me in 2014 which was a two day affair. He probably would have found La Carrera Panamericana overwhelming, but he would have been very supportive of my participation.
If you’re interested in following the race, for reasons you might guess, here are two sites that should help:
https://lacarrerapanamericana.com.mx (espanol)
or
https://lacarrerapanamericana.com.mx/home/ (English)
and
Rally on!
JP
Ivonne sent me these photos of a book by Oona Lind Napier and Jackie Waldren. As you can see, Patrick and Stephanie are featured as is their good friend Suzy Bradbury.
