Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the passing of Sweet Sam Myers.
Even now, it's hard to believe he's gone. But then, he truly was a larger than life personality, so even in death, he is still with so many of us everyday. I myself can't bear to delete his phone numbers from my cell phone. Occasionally when I'm scrolling through for a number, I come across his name and it makes me smile. And everytime I walk into The Hole In The Wall I still glance over to his spot by the kitchen to see if he's there. Which he's not. But to me, it's still his seat, and always will be. And I will always look for him there.
A group of us gathered yesterday at the Dixie House restaurant where Sam liked to eat to tell our Sammy stories and, well, just to be together on that day when we were all thinking about him. And what a group it was: Joe Jonas (The man I think Sam had the most respect for. How many pictures are there of Sam and Joe together hanging on walls in this town? What a amazing duo they were!), Joanna Iz (who so lovingly watched out for Sam and made sure he was taken care of, and how he loved her for it), Hash Brown (Sam often said he wished Hash was his son), Miss Marcy, Andrea Dawson, Kathy Prather, Anson (theirs was not just a remarkable musical partnership, but a remarkable friendship) and Rene Funderburgh , John Street, Jeff (who helped Sammy write his book) and Robin Horton, Ravis (who lived upstairs from Sam and made it her mission to make sure he was fed and watched out for on a daily basis), Brenda, (who slept on Sam's couch for many a night in the last months of his life watching over him), Lisa Tindell and her son Austin (Sam loved kids), and Vicky Wiley (who accompanied Sam to the Mayo clinic in the months before his death, and stayed by his side when he was, shall we say, in a less than good mood. If that doesn't qualify you as an angel, I don't know what does.) There were a couple of others who's names I didn't catch, one man who Hash told me Sam lived with for the first few months when he moved to Dallas. For sure, a group that truly loved Sam Myers the man, not just Sam Myers the musician. I think he would have been proud to see us together, but then again, he might have wondered why we didn't call more people!!
Joanna brought a picture of Sammy (smoking) so he could be with us, but I knew already that he was with us all, and in fact, had never left our hearts and never will.
I thought our little meeting would be all about Sam, but in fact, it turned out to be a chance to catch up with each other and just chat in a way you can't do when you're playing your gig or even hanging at a jam. And it dawned on me that this was one of Sammy's greatest gifts to us all, because without him, this eclectic group of friends might never have been a group at all. And I wouldn't be suprised to find out that was his plan all along.
Thanks Sam. I still love you, and miss you, every day.
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