This is a re-post. I'm not ready for it to disappear from the page, partly because so many people have said that reading about Blake has truly inspired them. So I'm keeping it up for a while longer, and will continue to post new things, too. Love.

(Oh, Blake.) This is going to be very inadequate.

Blake was lovely. He was terribly good at living, at paying attention to and taking care of people. He had no trouble being in the moment, wasn't in a hurry, took the time to get to know all kinds of people (including the strange and scary ones) and made them feel loved and as if they'd been truly seen. He was an encourager, he was social glue, he could work hard but truly excelled at resting. He was incredibly smart. He could be goofy and witty, sometimes cynical. Blake knew how to pack for an adventure. He was a poet, a genuine person and musician who wrote, played and sang with heart and talent. He wrote the funniest, most fabulous rambling letters but didn't waste words. He loved wilderness and our summertime garden, loved learning (about clouds, soybeans, organic gardening and composting, politics, music theory, etc.), loved his black lab Cayuse. Blake loved his family and friends so much, and said so.

People affect the world in different ways, leave behind trails of actions and words, sometimes music. That I know better now how to love, how to laugh and how to sing, I owe to Blake Reese. That I am more accepting of differences, more dedicated to the earth and to helping people take care of it, more open to adventure and to taking it easy, I owe to him too. Blake brought music into people's lives; to mentor so many musicians, support their original playing and writing, is huge, right? It is an enormous and lasting gift, one he gave generously and without ceremony.

The world and the way we see it has been changed for the better because of Blake's presence in our lives. I am forever grateful.