August 6, 2023

Last spring Annette and I bought tickets to see Michael Franti and Spearhead at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver. For those of you who have not heard them, you should definitely check them out. Their upbeat music includes hip hop, funk, reggae, jazz, reggae fusion, folk, jam band, dancehall, ska punk, rock, pop, industrial, and avant-garde. Their live performances are incredibly energetic, inclusive and a great deal of fun. Unfortunately, we bought the tickets before we learned Annette would need to begin a third round of chemo infusions, and the timing of these conflicted with the concert, so we were unable to go.

Sandpoint Idaho, a small community with a population of ~8,700 located 45 minutes north of Coeur d’Alene, each year hosts eight days of some of the best music and musicians from around the world (The Festival at Sandpoint https://www.festivalatsandpoint.com/). This year, Michael Franti was performing on one of the nights, and Annette’s sister Gerri and her husband Kenton joined me for this amazing concert. The weather was perfect, the music terrific, and although Annette was not there in person, her spirit joined us from the very start. The opening song, “I’m Alive,” was the one she sang and danced to in our van in an empty campground in the northeast corner of California on her last birthday. I’ve re-posted a video of this below. What many don’t realize is that this was just days after learning from her oncologist that while her second round of chemo resulted in many of her tumors diminishing in size, they had not been eliminated. This was not the news we had hoped for... Yet, one of the many things I loved so much about Annette was her conviction that, regardless of length, challenges, or unwanted news, life was meant to be lived and loved. Her singing that particular song with such joy at that time was a terrific example of this.

As Michael and the band played that opening song at the concert, I pulled out my phone and brought up that video, and Annette joined the three of us dancing to the music. Tears both sad and joyful poured out of me. Music and memories have such power.

At the end of the concert, as the band played the final song of the evening, the Super full moon rose across Lake Pend Orielle behind the stage. Annette was definitely with us!