Daniel and Mom, in about 2007, a year before his passing
Some years ago, our rural county had a music cafe where people could sit, have lunch or dinner, a drink or a snack, and could watch performers on a small stage across the room. In the back there were multiple rooms where the owner could give music lessons. The food was quite good and it was a great place to go especially of you didn't wish to drive too far on a Fall or Winter evening. In this era, Stephanie and Adam were in college, but each week, usually when I took Matthew and Daniel to the library, in the evening we would stop off in the music cafe.
The owner was a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and performer in his own right, and found that founding the music cafe was a way that he could earn a living doing what he loved, while still being at home at night with his wife and young children. Eventually, the challenges of music lessons, running the restaurant and cafe, and scheduling the acts and weekly activities became overwhelming, and the founder sold his business to a trail of other restaurants, that never seemed to capture our interest the way the original one had.
Today, almost fifteen years after Daniel's passing, and almost two after Matthew's passing, Nik and I made a rare stop at the county's Dunkin' Donuts. It was a cold day, and we thought a couple of donuts and some warm drinks would hit the spot. A man ahead of us was ordering something similar. I recognized him almost immediately as the founder of the music cafe. For some reason, he remembered me also. I told him how much we missed the cafe, and asked him what he and his family were doing now. He is still giving music lessons, mostly guitar. He was shocked to hear that both Daniel and Matthew have now died. He had missed hearing this about either of them. He looked sad when I told him. I told him because the music cafe had been some of the very best memories I'd had with Daniel and Matthew. Even when there wasn't an act playing there, we could watch the wide screen television with country music acts performing while having dinner. It had been a regular weekly habit for us and we had thoroughly enjoyed it.
Make sure you make as many memories with your children as possible whenever you can.
