John's music has been a part of my life since first hearing him sing. He was a lyrical genius as most already appreciate but he also had a gift for using the instruments to help bring the song to a higher level. I suffered the loss of the love of my life when I was young and John's music offered solace, a soft place to grieve and yet give me hope for the future. I come from a long line of loggers as I live in Northern California. While I am thankful for the life my father worked so hard to give us, I had great misgivings of the industry and their practices. This made me feel out of place and then I would hear John sing Calypso and I watched him sail with one of my other idols, Jacques Cousteau. I knew then that John was singing and spreading the word and the need for change just as I felt in my own heart. John's voice is one of the greatest I've ever heard and you could feel his passion for the things he sang about. Who hasn't wanted to sit by the campfire in the Rocky Mountains. Who doesn't look at a Eagle or Hawk and close your eyes and want to feel how it must be to fly? I grieved deeply when we lost John yet I know he would want all of us to carry on and continue to spread the truth of his passion and do all we can to save the land and the wildlife for generations to come. I do my best to follow his lead in the ways that I can. He taught me to also just look at nature in a deeper way. I stop to smell a rose and admire it's beauty, lay my hands on the bark of a tree, smell the air in a damp pine forest and all those things he spoke of and sang about. About this time last year I went to Aspen with my dearest friend, also one of the truest John fans I know, and we had the time of our lives and we hoped he was with us in spirit. We walked through the aspen trees and touched them, put our hands in the crystal clear waters running from the Rocky Mountains. We felt the power and energy coming from the mountains while walking around Maroon Bells lake. His spirit is everywhere there. We will go back again and I encourage anyone who has the dream of going there to do everything they can to get there; Aspen and the Rocky Mountains as John sang of and spoke of, will not disappoint. Thank you John for teaching me to look at life in a special and deeper way! I miss you so much but your songs keep you always near. I miss you so much but your songs keep you always near. I'll be back to the Rockies as they, like you, are a part of me forever.