| Pictures
On this page you will find some of the 40 pictures that appear in the book Finding My Banana Bread Man along with captions. Some of the captions contain verses from my poetry which is also found in the book. Captions are below each picture.
You will also find at the end of these pictures two photos of a Memorial Rock placed in my yard. The rock was created by Bronze Markers And Plaques in California.
******************************
Even at three, he had ever-present smile. Jack, 3 years old, Norway, Michigan, 1952.
"There are more than angels watching over me. I believe - Oh I believe."
******************************
I still recall the hair of gold—how it parted, how it glowed. Jack, 31 years old, 1980.
"Lonely rivers sigh, wait for me, wait for me. I'll be coming home, wait for me."
******************************
Jack and Tom, early 1990s. "I saw you shape and mold a son the two of us
would raise. I saw a father's love grow strong and shape this young man's ways."
"But I swear in the days still left ... we'll walk in fields of gold. You'll remember me when the west wind blows, among the fields of barley."
******************************
Jack's dream house, the house we built in 1999, where he lived only five short years,
where he died. If you click on the picture above you will view pictures of Arizona and a musical tribute to the State Jack loved so much.
"I love you Arizona. Your magic in me. Your the life blood in me."
******************************
Jack's rule: He gets the first bite, Madison the second, and Dusky the third. Jack,
Madison, and Dusky (I'm in the background), on Madison's first birthday, May 2001.
"Looking back on the memory of the dance we shared 'neath the stars above. For a moment all the world was right. How could I have known that you'd ever say goodbye."
******************************
Madison's eyes are still identical to her Papa Jack's. Jack and Madison, 1 year old, 2001.
"Remember when the sound of little feet was the music we danced to week to week. Brought back the love, we found trust, vowed we'd never give it up ... Remember when."
******************************
Madison, 2 years old, with a dishrag on her head, 2002. Just like her Papa Jack, she
was always cleaning the house.
******************************
Our dog, Dusky, also known as "Roses," 13 years old, January 2002.
******************************
Madison, after getting another of Papa Jack's haircuts. Jack had exclusive rights to
cutting her hair.
******************************
Jack and I on a Hawaiian cruise, August 2002.
"In my dreams I'll always see you soar above the sky. In my heart, there will always be a place for you for all my life."
******************************
Jack on a cruise stopover in Key West, Florida, June 2003.
******************************
Jack and I on a cruise, June 2003.
******************************
Madison and me, 2004. What he was continues to grow in what he left behind. "Death
cannot steal what the heart knows."
"On a prayer ... In a song ... I hear your voice and it keeps me hanging on. Ahhh, raining down against the wind. I'm reaching out til' we reach the circle's end ...when you come back to me again."
******************************
Weaving tales, rich and wild, as he did your hairstyle, in Jack's Self Indulgence, April 2004.
******************************
When Jack became ill, our Night Blooming Cereus cactus began to mourn; it went dormant.
******************************
Two and one half years after Jack's death, our cactus began to bloom again.
******************************
Our friend Judi (from Michigan) and me, in happier times, early 2004. No other friend or family member provided as many consecutive days of hands-on, in-depth, care as she did. This was a true act of love.
" Oh I believe there are angels among us. Sent down to us from somewhere up above. they come to you and me in our darkest hours. To show us how to live. To teach us how to give. To guide us with the light of love. Ain't it kind of funny ... at the dark end of the road ... someone lights the way with ... with just a single ray of hope."
******************************
Jack, on the Oregon coast, five weeks before he received his brain tumor diagnosis, August 2004.
******************************
Me, on the Oregon coast, August 2004.
******************************
Jack, 55 years old, and Madison—Jack's personal ray of sunshine—4 years old, on October 2, 2004, the day he received his diagnosis. Madison always glowed for Jack.
"The more that I know ... the more I can see. The older I grow ... the more I believe. It's not the length of the life or the depth of the grave ... In the end we'll be measured by the love that we gave."
******************************
On May 19, 2009 I had a Memorial Rock placed in my back yard as a memory and legacy to Jack. The rock pictured above was created by a company called Bronze Markers and Plaques in California. If you click on the name of their company you will find information regarding the wonderful work done my this company and the many testimonials of their satisfied customers. They did a magnificent job in creating the Memorial Rock for Jack.
The message on the Memorial Rock reads as follows:
John "Jack " Edward Orler
June 15 1949 - July 31 2005
We Will Meet Again
You Were Always My Soft Place
To Land And Will Be Again
"He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep,
pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the
heart and in our own despair against our will comes
wisdom to us by the awful grace of God." - Aeschylus
------------------------
"Beauty that dies the soonest has the longest life.
Because it cannot keep itself for a day, we keep it
forever. Because it can have existence only in memory,
we give it immortality there." - Berth Damon
|
