Remembering Derek

Hello All,

I wanted to share some additional information on opportunities to join us in remembering and celebrating Derek. And thanks to everyone who joined in the birthday Bingo fun, it was very touching and a nice reminder to me just how many other people out there are missing Derek and thinking of him.

First of all, we do plan to have a "celebration of life" (in other words a party in Derek's honor) at a future point. We will probably try to schedule something for around next September with a contingency plan for COVID if that ends up being too soon. For that, I will do as much digging up of emails as possible and will also use the blog to help spread the word widely. One way or another, there will be rusty nails to drink communally in our future.

In the meantime, on Saturday we are going to do a small tree planting for Derek at a spot that he had chosen in Seward Park. Because of his work, colleagues at the City and at Garden Cycles have been able to coordinate this together and it is of course all above board. (Just making sure we're all clear that random park plantings are not OK!). Unfortunately because of COVID, we have had to keep the group much smaller than we would like. However, there will be a few ways to participate. For one, we will make a recording of our planting and share a link for it here in the future. 

Secondly, we would like to invite you to do a planting of your own, whether outside or inside, this weekend or in coming days, in Derek's honor. If you would like to record yourself doing the planting, and/or include any words that you want to share with us about Derek, that would be great too. We can compile the videos and host them probably on a linked Blogger site. I know many of you were able to share some of your thoughts with Derek or with me in recent months, and it has been incredibly moving to hear your memories and stories. Still, the written word isn't quite the same as the spoken. Some of us will be wearing plaid on Saturday, doing the same is encouraged but definitely not required for any video participants :)

I have not yet compiled the full list of emails for everyone who has been a part of our community of support, so if you are reading this and able to share the updated information with others who might like to virtually join in, that would much appreciated.

Lastly, I wanted to share a link to a song that Derek wrote about Condors. There is more introductory information on the page with the video that provides some additional context as well. Enjoy.

Thanks and lots of love as always,

Briana