Where I left off was the completion of my incomplete 365 Project memorializing my mother. Starting January 1, 2009, one year after her passing, I decided to write a new variation every day on one of her favorite songs, "Let There Be Peace on Earth." 73 variations in, I decided to throw in the towel and be happy I made it that far.

It seems natural to pick up with my blog just after another loss. On Saturday, June 20, 2009, my grandfather Hunter Daughtrey, Sr. passed away at the young age of 95. He lived a full and meaningful life and was sharp as a tack to the very end. Some of my favorite memories of involved fishing with him in the backyard pond at their house in rural southern Virginia. We would first go and dig up live worms in the dirt at the edge of the woods, occasionally stumbling across a small snake (I learned at a young age that worms don't have mouths like snakes). We would then take our little plastic tub of squirmy worms with our long bamboo fishing poles (no rod & reel here) and go sit at the edge of the pond. Grandpa was a man of few words, but those words were always meaningful and profound.

For his 90th birthday, the family (brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, & cousins) threw Grandpa a big party. People gave great speeches about him (a la "roast"). My dad incorporated song (misguided or not) into his speech about his father. I wrote & performed a solo piano piece for the occasion which I titled, "The Old Pond." I tried to capture the simple beauty of those memories of him. After 5 years of only having a MIDI recording, yesterday I finally got around to recording myself playing the piece.

The Old Pond