June 1Day of remembrance
celebration and goodbye
Safely in Jesus arms
* This haiku was written in the comments section by an anonymous who loves the Johnsons. The photo is a photo of the metamorphosis taken by either Joey or Rachel (taken from Van Down By The River Blog).
2 comments:
I was moved at the memorial service. I had to write....
The Free Spirit:
I regret not spending more time with him. I remember Joey's 2nd grade birthday party. Baseball theme. I was so excited to go to his party and even remember wrapping his present in the sports section...I was so excited. I moved away to Europe, but our paths always crossed and there was a lot of love for each other. What a man. What a wild and unique creation of our Father. Only God could have dreamed Joey up.
Seriously. He was so unique, so...Joey. I smiled, laughed and cried tonight. Watching all the photos of his life made me so inspired and amazed at who he is. There are few men that I have met that are life giving. By that I mean that you love being around and that you know are sucking the marrow out of life, that are passionate and free. He
dreamed big, and desired a lot out of life. And that was Joey.
One story that brings me such laughter and fond memories is when we took the dingy boat out to "dumps" in Maui. Joe (dad Joe) had the little craft all ready with a cooler full of Coronas (Joe you are the best dad, especially for a couple of teenagers ;-) Anyways, Joe blasted that boat through the water on our way out to this spot that was storied to have great snorkeling. On our way out two dolphins were racing along the side of the boat. It was so cool! And the dolphins stayed with us all the way out to dumps. Joey and I geared up with our snorkeling goggles, fins etc. and began exploring the reefs. Quickly we spotted the pair of dolphins up ahead and swam toward them. We got closer. And closer. And closer to the point that Joey was a few feet from one of the two dolphins. He began touching the dolphins tail. Now, Joey was more of a pro than I was as a snorkeler, so I was desperately trying to catch up. He was touching a dolphin! I wanted to do that! I got really close, and when my hand was a few inches from the second dolphins tail something so crazy happened. It's tail flipped up and brown colored water shot out at me. Whatever it was freaked me out and I swam backwards as fast as I could. All the while I could hear Joey laughing under water (underwater laughing is so hilarious if you've ever heard it). We bolted to the surface for air and the first words Joey said was "dude. you got crapped on by a dolphin!" He and I have laughed more than a few times about that experience. He loved it.
I'll never forget that summer we got to spend together, he taught me
how to play guitar on the house rooftop and later on helped me pick
out my Martin. I had lost my friend Shawn that summer in a car crash and Joey was there to hang and talk about it. I am thankful for that. I wish I could have spent more time with him, but I know in the deepest part of me that he is rocking out in heaven with all his uniqueness. I can't help but think that he has offered heaven a huge gift. I look forward to furthering my friendship with him there.
With Love,
Linus jr.
Dear Johnsons,
Please love I love you guys sooo much and wish I could ease your pain as you have done some many times for our family!
I hate to say it but it is true...
take One day at a time...
I continure to share your grief and tears!
Love
Kim
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