the letter - 07.11.10

two years ago this week i lost my best friend to bone cancer.  she was a black lab named kona, and she died in my living room in mid-july with her head on my lap.  i wrote her a letter that day and a couple of weeks later I put it in a box with her ashes.  i read it last year around this time, and i'll do it again this year.

that summer was a hard one, and autumn soon found me trying to let go of some dreams that seemed to have died with kona, just as they were born with her 15 years before when i picked her out of a litter in my aunt's garage in utah.  

that autumn after she died i got a letter from a fan named em, which told me about a deep loss she had experienced.  i connected to the letter so sean watkins and i wrote a song about it.  the song was called 'for the sender' and was about how often a letter is like a prayer, in that sometimes it's more for the sender than the receiver.

one thing led to another, and before long we had written and recorded several songs about her letter with other songwriting friends here in town.  i received several more letters and we wrote songs about those letters, too.

this song project is now almost done.  it's grown into something i could never have imagined, and i can't wait to share it.  it started with that letter from em, and I've been wondering how many people out there have their own letters, tucked away in a box or a dresser drawer, letters never sent.

and today i realized i have one of my own, sitting in a box downstairs next to a little package with a rose across the top.

i miss you, kona.