When I think of John, I remember a man who was warm, open, and straightforward. He was so kind in his manner, that when he gave you advice it never felt like he was correcting you. He was just sharing his thoughts on the matter. I was using his advice just a couple of weeks ago. Scanning in papers I couldn’t bear to part with but will probably never leave. Thanks, John, I needed a little help with my hoarding.

My son had been to the farm with Taproot before the Sheltons bought it, but I had not. John took us around sharing each little invention with enthusiasm and wonder. He was so present in the moment. Noting each splendor of everyday life and giving it the recognition it deserved. I wish I could have spent more time getting to know John. In some ways, I knew him without being around him because I saw what it meant to Julia to be loved by him. And I felt the ease in the home they created with their two children whom they nurtured with such care. As we all walk forward in life without John, his love will be all around us. And it will be in the hearts of his family who carry him in their hearts.

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in by E. E. Cummings

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in

my heart) i am never without it (anywhere

i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing, my darling)

i fear

no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want

no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows

higher than the soul can hope of mind can hide

and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)