So long ago. Was it in a dream?

Twenty-five years ago today, a disturbed and forgettable man took the life of John Lennon, my favorite Beatle. I was in college and very "into" the Beatle's White Album and John and Yoko's latest release, "Double Fantasy". My friends, Greg and Chuck, and I knew all the words to songs like "Starting Over" and "Woman". And we were joyously amused at the zany lyrics and strange utterings of Yoko's songs "Kiss Kiss Kiss" and "Walking on Thin Ice". I remember startling a crowd of people gathered at Mazio Pizza's by playing "Kiss Kiss Kiss" on the jukebox, the "B" side of one of the more popular hits, which ends with what sounds like Yoko experiencing the ultimate pleasure response.

How shocked and saddened we were to have this bright, positive, creative spirit suddenly yanked away. I remember Chuck hanging a bedsheet out his dorm window with the words "Give Peace a Chance" emblazoned on it. At our small, church-based college we seemed to be the only few who knew and cared that this mystical creative spirit was gone.

Some 15 years later, I would play "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" for my newborn son Parks, and more fully realize what John had felt for Sean. It only made my admiration for "my favorite Beatle" all the stronger. It's hard to believe that 25 years have passed since that grey New York day. I wonder what the world has missed. What John Lennon would have accomplished in those stolen years?

On Nov. 27, a week ago last Sunday, I happened to be walking along 72th Street in the Upper East Side during a visit to NYC and said to my wife, "You know, I believe John Lennon's apartment was around here somewhere." No sooner had the words left my lips than I looked over at a doorman and noticed "The Dakota" embroidered in gold on his uniform. I was there. Probably inches from the very spot where John Lennon's life came to an end.

Ah! Bowakawa poussé poussé.

Today, may we all "dream dream away."

Happy Birthday, Parks

Ten years ago yesterday, December 7, 1995, this precious child was given to me. I remember being struck by the fact that I had never loved anyone or anything so much in all of my life. Ten years later, I feel just the same.

I wrote this poem on August 8, 2000, when Parks was 4-1/2 years old:

A bedtime story before tucking you in
Two more chapters from "Charlotte's Web"
I stand to leave and bend for a kiss
Which you wipe away with the back of your hand
You say something cute — probably learned from TV —
I now can't recall to retell or recite
And I worry this is how your childhood will be
Too quickly gone by, too soon wiped away.

Good-bye to the little boy I have loved so dearly. And happy birthday to the young man you are growing to be. I love you, Parks. More than I ever thought possible.

Dad