I like writing these song summaries. I hate writing THIS one. I don’t know what to say.

At the very end of 2021, my friend Jon had an accident at home and passed away suddenly. It broke my heart, and the heart of anyone who knew him. He was one of my dad’s best friends for about 60 years. Dad spoke at his celebration of life. I named my cat Jonco after him. Jonco the Cat hung out with me a lot while I was mixing this track.

Some words Jon penned were passed around by his family in the days immediately following his death. I thought there was a song in them:

“Find things to laugh about. Spend time with family and friends. Don’t let someone ruin your day. Treat people the way you want to be treated. How you react to things that happen in life is much more important than the things that happen. Practice random acts of kindness. Pay for someone’s meal at a restaurant drive-thru. Remember that you’re not always right and they’re not always wrong; people say things from their own perspective.”

After the Celebration of Life had ended, I went home and recorded 99% of this song, as I made it up. I tossed in some references to some stuff Jon’s brother Paul said, and also to a story Dad told of the tradition between him and Jon to exchange Lotto scratchers instead of prayer cards in times of loss. There’s too much space between verses. That’s on purpose. I wanted it to feel like something was missing.

It’s hard to write a tribute to someone you never imagined having to miss. I hope I did okay.