As many of you know, I still like comic books, or comic book movies, anyway. I was watching Thor: Ragnarock the other day and one of the best lines in the movie is this: “Asgard (the Norse version of heaven) is not a place. It never was. Asgard is not a place. It’s a people. That is how Deering is, and how apparent that has become this year.
There’s an old Jewish saying that I’ve become particularly fond of in the year 2020: “Next year in Jerusalem “. It’s something that people said before there was an Israel to go home to, I think. And so it is with Deering. Even if there is no Deering to go home to, there is a Deering to go home with. That is all of you. I don’t know that I have ever felt closer to a group of people in my life than I did this year. From whenever we got together at Gary Ciocci’s house until this very moment, it has been great to be with you all, even in the middle of a horrible, sucky, no good year.
Nancy Sweeney has been gracious enough to host Zoom meetings that we could all attend. Weekly, some combination of Julian McCracken, Boop , David and Kyle Hauser from Florida, Heather Bordeaux, Patty Kennedy and her husband from the Carolinas, Jean and Ruth Copelin, Judy Bragg, Kathryn Daniels, Em Ross, Paula Richards, Craig Cadieux, Rebecca Krause, and the list went on.
Music on line was great: Patty playing sweaty guitar in the summer, Charlie Russell playing gigs in Newburyport, and discussions with Mike Gatchell about albums mid year. Lindsey Sherman played flute, I think, and I coveted Gary’s PRS guitar and Charlie Hartman’s bass.
And through it all, there was the Shermans — Terry quite often, Claudia and family in Texas, Read and Stephan in Canada, and — of course — Oh, Cy. For Cy’s birthday this year, we pitched together and got her a laptop so that she could make the weekly meetings. That was incredible! All those who put it together — from idea to picking the computer out to picking it up to setting up. it was Deering extraodinaire!
I know that I have missed somebody, perhaps a lot of somebodies, in this recap. Because it’s after midnight by now, I’m going to stop writing now. But with all the crap in the world, Deering has filled my heart, even if we couldn’t all be in the same room this year.
I remember years ago, when camp still existed, Gino Kelly yelling “Hug time!” and all of the wonderful human contact that went with it. So, in 2021, I want to see as many of you as I can, for Hug Time! I hope we can get together in some form or another in person …. Next year, in Deering. wherever that is.
Peace and love to you all!
John
Because It Matters 