I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately.  We went camping last weekend and I couldn’t help think that you and the family would have loved to be there.  It was hot; about 100 degrees at our campground and I thought of may ways to cool us down.  I created a big blind out of a tarp to block the sun as we cooked dinner on Saturday night.  You were also innovative and might have thought of other ways to do fun things at the camp site.

I have a picture of you (above) as you demonstrated Jacob’s Ladder to your class.  There is no date on the picture.  It looks like you’re 10 years old there.

I remember when you were two years old or so, you called me Ut John (Uncle John).  That was cute.  My other niece and nephew still call my that from time-to-time, in memory of you.  Rest in peace, my beloved nephew.

Love,

Ut John

Your uncle John here.  I remember holding you in the scuba boat when you were a year old while DeDe went scuba diving in Baja.  You started crying, so I sang my opera songs as best I could.  I’m not sure if you thought it was beautiful, and it wasn’t enough to get you to totally stop crying, but it was something different, so you paid attention.  You were a great nephew and we are remembering you on your birthday.

Thanks,

John

I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately.   I wanted to wish you a happy birthday.  Since you’ve passed, I’ve received my amateur radio license, just like you.  I wish I could talk to you on the radio.  It wouldn’t be hard to talk, since I’m just a couple of dozen miles from you.  I would have loved to teach you more about technology.  We really miss you and we’re celebrating your birthday here.  Love, your Uncle John.

A remembrance from my sister:

And here it is, yet another year later, and the subscription cards to Harper’s continue to come, as well as all the dive magazines, and flight magazines, forwarded to my address. Stuff that would have been just more marketing annoyance, but now so significant in the way that it happens only because Luke was here to make it happen. I will be sad if they stop coming, and perhaps they never will (now that they have my name). Remembering your birthday today, Luke, I love you. Love Aunt Cathryn

What an enterprising young man!  Someone who has the guts to call and ask for a sale.  Of course, you wouldn’t say he was cold calling because I’m his uncle, but he was probably trying out his script and finding it is easier than you think to close a sale.  From what I understand, he went on to be one of the top sellers of magazines at his school.  Way to go, Luke!  I will remember you always and love you forever.  Your uncle, -John.

They really loved my daughter and I’m glad they had a chance to meet her.  It will be hard as my daughter grows up and I would want to share her special moments with them.  Ryan in particular loved babies and he loved my daughter.  He got to feed her when she was a month old.  He commented that she was “sooo cute.”

Today I edited a video they shot on May 29, 2011.  It was a day trip they made to Death Valley where they climbed the sand dunes and then tumbled down.  It helps me remember what fun people they were.  In the video you can hear DeDe saying to David, “Hi my love!” and he responds, “Hi Sweet Pea!”  You can discern the love they had for each other by the tone of their voice.  You can also see David’s genuine, enthusiastic smile.

To watch the video, you need QuickTime installed.  The HD version might take a while to download.

Click here to watch in high definition.
Click here to watch in standard definition.

David can be heard barking like a seal as he loved to do.  Luke had found a fire hat and you could see that he was enjoying himself as he tumbled down the dunes.  DeDe isn’t in the video because she was shooting, but you can hear her sweet voice.  Near the end of the video you can see Ryan run up on David and Luke and it looks like David is pointing out rock formations.  Ryan gave his dad a hug from behind.  At the very end, DeDe comments, “You can’t go far without a geology lesson.”

Tomorrow will be a hard day.  There are no events that I know of and that’s fine with me.  I don’t want to plan anything because running the event keeps me from thinking of them.  Tomorrow I’ll be in Santa Cruz and I want to think of them.

I think this blog site for my brother’s family should have it’s own special spot, so I’ll register a new URL and migrate the blog.  Don’t worry, I’ll put a forwarding link so you can get there from here.

Thanks for letting me share.  In writing this, I feel like I got in touch with my feelings and I got to relive memories of them.  Please share your comments below.

A random photo of Ryan taking a bath.

A classic quote from David.

Left – A shot of David opening a present at Christmas.  He looks three and a half years old.  That’s me (John) in the background, about one and half, and my sister (Cathryn) to the right (almost five years old).

It never ceases to amaze me about what a terrible thing it was that happened over the summer.  I think about them every day and find myself comparing everything to them.  For example, if I come across something that I wrote before July, I want to go back and tell myself, “Hey, this was a time when you could have dropped everything and gone to see them.”  I really miss them and it still hasn’t sunk in – everything that has happened.

Sometimes, I would only see them twice a year, and definitely not at Christmas time.  They were always on a trip.  I think resorts offer steep discounts (for the holidays) and so David would always try to take advantage of that by taking a group or taking his family.  Because they were always gone at Christmas, this has been a normal holiday, although Thanksgiving was hard.

I remember many years ago, when Luke was 6 and we were having Thanksgiving at my parents house.  I wanted to do Luke a favor by helping serve him food, but he got mad at me and started crying, “I wanted to do it myself!”  I tried to tell him that I was just being polite by helping him – he sort of bought it, but he still wanted to get his own food.  He was very independent!

Do any of you have memories of the Houghton family to share?

Picture left of Ryan and Luke riding horses in Mexico.  They got to do a lot of things and they were happy to be with us.  While we don’t have a camp fire to tell stories around, we do have this blog and the ability to submit comments.  Please keep their memories alive with your stories.

My wife and I decided to join friends in Tahoe and it was a refreshing break.  I’m starting to get more energy back and I can concentrate better in the last few weeks.  Taking the weekend off helps too.  Still though, it hits me, as it did as we were driving back.  It was the realization of what had happened and the overwhelming and profound sense of loss.

At the same time, they would have wanted us to be happy, so I’ve been making plans and getting energized for the future.  I am optimistic and looking forward to the rest of my life.  The family has taught me a lot about what’s important, and in that sense, they continue to have an impact on me.

Above is a zoomed part of the first picture and you can see the crowd that gathered at lighthouse point and listened on marine radio.  There was also a boat behind us full of friends of the family.  Church bells marked the exact time when we released the ashes.  It was a very sad moment of goodbye.