Rock has been on my mind today. Maybe he was prodding me to add to his Journal of Life, so I'll try to do that today. My husband Russ and I came to Alaska in 1976 and shortly after that I read about a 'Patriots In Action' meeting and decided to attend. Rock was the primary speaker and he impressed me with his knowledge of the Constitution and what it means for us. I kept going to meetings - and kept learning, which led to studying what he said. I discovered that he told THE TRUTH. He also showed me how the government does NOT always tell us the truth, and that lesson has followed me ever since! He passed out pocket-sized copies of the Constitution and Bill of Rights to those who were interested. I still have mine .... tattered and well used, but where I can easily find it Thank you, Rock! He taught me his term : JUST - US, which I have used frequently. Thank you, Rock. One July weekend, Rock and Carol flew down to the Kenai peninsula to spend the 4th of July weekend with us. We loaded into the plane and he took us over to Seldovia for the day. It was one of our incredibly beautiful summer days, and as we flew home in the late sunset, he took us soaring over the Homer area where the hills were like green velvet. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY WE HAD! Thank you, Rock. We had so many 'heated' discussions and he had such a wonderful way with words, that when I heard about his stroke and inability to speak, I knew what a trial that was. I missed our conversations, even when he would look at me and roll his eyes as if to say :"You're arguing with the choir!". For those good times .... Thank you, Rock. While I greatly miss his physical presence on this earth, I rejoice that he is now FLYING without a plane...singing and playing his music with vigor ... having great discussions with all his friends who have gone before .... LIVING without pain and illness ... you were a BIG man with a BIG heart and I will miss you. For your friendship....Thank you, Rock. I wrote this short poem while reflecting on our life here and I hope you will like it. The Promise Change is hard for me, I hate to see the summer go; Regret each falling leaf,each shorter day,each fading flower. Fall fills me with sadness and undone adventures. I hate to see it go. Golden leaves fall, bounty of the summers wealth. Covering the ground in a carpet of precious memories. Trees once laden with the heavy harvest are Gracefully becoming thin and bare again. With winter they will take on another mantle- White and sparkling with diamonds. Sleeping. Waiting with patience, the Waking of springtime. The plants and flowers start their autumn sleep After their fiery burst of color, now drab and brown With seed pods where flowers once bloomed. Soon to lie under winters' blanket. People, too, have the changing seasons of life. The endless joy of childhood, the lushness of youth, The speeding years of adulthood, and too soon Winding down, growing old. The trees and flowers know in their sleep That spring will come and life will begin again And so should I understand these endless seasons Also mean endless life. The trees will wake again, and show their leafy beauty, And the flowers will bloom and blaze in glory, And we, too will wake and live again, For that is the Promise. For the other many things I remember about you, Rock, I'll tell you about them when we meet again. Give Russ a hug from me! Joann