Paris

Anna, Mason, Melissa, Peter, Nevah, Hannah, Jay, and Mafalda have been commemorating the one year anniversary of John's passing in Paris, John's favorite city. We will update you soon.

Love,
Anna

Asking for email messages for family to read in Paris

Hi everyone: Reaching out to you with love---I have found myself reliving a lot of beautiful and sad experiences from last year at this time.

Peter, Nevah, Hannah, Mason, Melissa, Jay and I will be joined in Paris by Mafalda where we will commemorate the 1-year anniversary of John's passing. In the blogpost before this one, there is a description of our ceremony plans.

For March 24th, we will read the messages many of you wrote at John's service for Melissa Craven's beautiful 3'x10' "Memorial Weaving."

We invite you to email a short answer to the question "How does your memory of John influence your life now?" or any other comment you would like for us to read. Please email them to me by replying to this message. Diane Colvard will print them out so they will be a surprise on the date of the ceremony. PLEASE SEND THE MESSAGES BEFORE FRIDAY MARCH 20th.

I hope to see you and/or hear from you soon. My cell is 512-431-6619. I will be moving to a loft apartment overlooking Town Lake in Austin on April 15th, so I hope you will visit me. Thanks again for being such a loving presence in John's and my lives.

Love, Anna

Paris for March 2009 anniversary of John's passing--You are invited!

Dearest friends and family:

To mark the anniversary of John's death last March, Peter Slatin, Nevah Assang, Hannah Slatin, Mason Carroll, Melissa Craven, Jay Byrd, Mafalda Stasi and I will be gathering in Paris for the core dates of March 23, 24th, and 25th. You are invited too.

We plan some simple events for the 23rd-25th:

March 23 will focus on "Past"--with memories of John in Paris, to be held at a favorite bistro for dinner. John, Peter, and their parents traveled to Paris several times before he visited during graduate school and later taught near Versailles through the UT English Department exchange program. In addition, John and Anna went to Paris on several vacations, including twice with Dillon

March 24th, "Present," will be the actual 1-year anniversary of his death. We are planning a short ceremony in the old Jewish quarter, plus the spreading of John's and Dillon's ashes in the river and at a historical site.

March 25th will be at a new place that John would have liked but never went to, with each of us sharing how John's memory goes with us into our own personal future and/or how we are transformed by our connection with John. (Please make suggestions for a lively ir interesting venue for this:)

It would be super special if any of you in locations near Paris or any of you who are able to make the trip could join ua for some or all of these events. Your ideas are welcome too. I personally will be arriving on March 21 and staying until the 27th. Mafalda Stasi lives in Paris and has graciously offered to help us with some of the arrangements. I can share our hotel information, etc.

Thank you, each one reading this. You have held me in your hearts, awake and living enthusiastically, and your love continues to nourish me.

In about a week, I will be posting a photo of the beautiful "Memorial Weaving" created by Melissa Craven for and during the memorial service for John, along with the text of all of the attendees' comments on paper that made up the weaving.

Love, Anna
annac@interactiondesign.com
512-431-6619

John's birth day

56 years ago today, john came into this world, to myles and diana at a hospital in buffalo. when he died eight months ago in houston, i climbed into the hospital bed with him, covering us both up with the dayglow lime green blanket......it felt peaceful, surrounded by our family.

so much love.
soooooo much love and impact he had while here.

a year ago, 85 people showed up on short notice to laredo cantina restaurant in austin to celebrate his 55th birthday. i remember that night, his sweetness, humor, and delight--even though he was very weak and had trouble walking. so many hugs were going round, witty toasts, people hopping tables & sitting on laps, dillon being petted under the table non-stop, fresh lime margaritas, and many donations to cover the tab.

so many of you kept showing up and showing up--matching john's endurance, your love and my love and his love swirling.

i just wanted to share this day with you. i am touched, sad, feeling lucky to have experienced (and still experience) the love of john and the love of you. there are tears---AND--i have never stopped dancing.

if i have a prayer for each of you in this loving community of support, it is that you never give up the intensity of your compassion and of your passions. that however much you loved john and felt connected to what he stood for, that you ride that energy even higher and faster than you ever did before--and keep it going and keep it beautiful. and keep it fun for yourself, not like a martyr to a cause, but staying in your joy and grace, and giving of your amazing talents--like i felt john to do in his life.

please, please stay in touch and be patient with me even if i don't always respond right away. know i want you to be with me.

love, anna

Dillon passed away, another angel to join John

Loved ones: Dillon died at 4:30pm today in the presence of Jay Byrd, Diane Colvard, Jack McKinney, and myself. He had been unable to walk properly since yesterday and spent his time lying on the grass on the front yard and then last night on the grounds of Dancing Waters Inn at friend David Baker's in Wimberley.

Jay and Jack carried him into the vet's today on his "blue cloud" rug, while he lay still, sleeping. He looked very peaceful and as we hugged him, we knew he was joining John in a place of love and freedom.

We plan to spread Dillon's ashes along with John's in Austin, Cape Cod, and Paris.

Special loving thanks go to Dan Schwab and Diann Grimm in Richmond, CA. They raised him as a guide dog puppy and continued to love him and stay in connection through John's illness, even keeping him in grand style while John had his bone marrow transplant.

Dillon was a teacher to me, John, and many other people. He taught us about love and compassion and showed us (through a million experiences of people wanting to pet him) how many people really just want to love and be loved.

With big hugs to all,
Anna

Dillon losing weight and weaker & some plans

Hi all:

It is very sad to see Dillon, who provided so much beautiful service as a guide dog to John (and opened our hearts wide wide wide) growing weaker. I don't think he will be long for this world and I will keep you posted. He has greeted so many people over the last month and continues to love to be petted as he lies down and dozes most of the time.

So many of you have helped me and continue to help me in so many ways. I haven't gotten very far in writing each of you a thank you note, and I know that I may end up missing a few of you--just because I was kind of spacey at the timea when the flowers, food, and some other gifts arrived. But I do thank you and I do plan to write everyone. Your loving actions are very very meaningful to me. Please don't be shy in writing me a little email to keep me posted about yourself and mentioning the gift you sent my way.

I spent Passover last weekend in the wonderful presence of all of our immediate family in New York. At Saturday's seder in Delmar, NY with my sister were Peter, Myles, Nevah, Hannah, Mom, Patti, Dennis, Sarah, Rebecca, Sarah and her husband and daughter, and Rebecca and her fiance--13 of us in all. After New York, I visited Helen and Steve Schoonover in Charlottesville, Va. On the entire eight day trip, I felt enveloped in love--even while missing John so much.

Peter and I are planning to collaborate in editing and publishing John's Leukemia Letters (from the posts in this blog) and to evolve, with your help and input--a project to further John's legacy. We figure we'll need a number of months to evolve plans. We are healing and transforming and need some time, I think.

I love you.
Anna

Planning legacy work to carry on John's accesssibility mission

Thanks again for all of the loving messages, gifts, and invitations I've received from you guys. Each and every one of these connections has been healing, helpful, and hopeful to me. I look forward to more and more time and lovely conversations with you.

A few messages ago, I mentioned carrying forward John's mission. I know that this is already being done by so many of you in the wonderful work you are already doing in the field of accessiilty. In addition, I am seeking input on how to create a focused project or direction for moving forward John's unique contributions.

Peter, John's brother and I will be discussing ideas for how to do this over the next few months and would love to have you in the discussion. Please email me at anna@interactiondesign.com or Peter at pslatin@theslatinreport.com

Love, Anna