The first and only time I snuck out of the house was to hang out in my friend John’s front yard.  I went home before my curfew, said goodnight to my parents, and quietly went back out the door.  I walked two blocks to his house, and I sat in the grass and mostly listened to John and his friends talk.  Joe was there, and Will, and Chris, and Julie.  I hadn’t left for college yet, and they had finished their first or second years at school.  It was different than the summer before, when I still had a year of high school left.  I can remember where everyone sat; on the steps and on the grass.  I listened to everyone talking, with passion, about music and the world and I felt like my life was starting.

It was such a shock to learn that John died.   I have been listening to this song, and remembering.