TC

Tommy's funeral was today - it really might have been the best memorial service I have ever been to.

Carol's was awesome too - because it was all HER. The colors, balloons, her artwork and her writings...

This was all Tommy - it was MUSIC. Which was his life. That's how my family got to be such good friends with the Clarke Family. Daniel and Matt met in 9th grade marching band and my parents and Daniel's parents were in band boosters. I was 2 years older than them, but Matt and I always kind of had the same friends... so our families just got close over the years though school music stuff...and then when we all graduated, the boys still persued music and we would hang out at all of the various gigs. And Tommy was an AMAZING musician himself and was in several bands that we would go see too... The main one I remember was TC and the Hot House Band - they were funky and fun. I wanted them to play at my wedding one day - but that group had sort of stopped playing by the time my wedding rolled around.

Tommy was always so happy and cheerful and boisterous. Is that how you spell that? When he'd see us he'd yell "It's the Taylors! What's up Mr. T, Mrs. T!" (And then to me) "Hey there beautiful lady!" And give us all bear hugs.

Anyway, the service was great. It was the perfect mix of faith and religion with personal stories of Tommy. And MUSIC.

Daniel is an amazing piano player. Currently he is playing keyboards for Mandy Moore. But he has played with Bruce Hornsby and other big names. He really is so incredible. I found this video on YouTube:



So at one point, the pastor read "letters" from his sons. Both were so great... Daniel's really struck me and I am going to paraphrase it here because it's a great message to share.

Here's what I remember he wrote:

"I was driving home late last night with my best friend Robbie and we were talking and I realized how much I am like my Dad. See, I stopped at the toll booth on Powhite and I stopped and talked to the late night toll booth guy, Billy. He's a cool cat. I see him all the time coming home from some gig and we always end up chatting - sometimes as much as 10 minutes. He talks about his family and asks me about mine and we just talk and sometimes he hits the button that makes the light go green before I even pay. I know he appreciates our chats because it has to get lonely there in that toll booth in the wee hours. We have gotten to be friends.

Sometimes we are in such a hurry to get from here to there that we forget about the "in-between" - and my Dad never forgot about the "in-between." Infact, he dwelled in the "in-between." The reason I am friends with Billy is because that's how I saw my Dad live as I grew up. Everyone was his friend and he listened and cared for everyone - he never met a stranger. I learned from him.

Obviously music was a large part of our relationship. He always told me 'It's not how good of a musician you are; it's how good of a person you are.' All of those people did not come to the viewing last night because my Dad was an amazing sax player - they came because he was an amazing man. And it was just a bonus that he was a killin' sax player." :)

And the service ended with a performance of ONE of Daniel's music groups (which we used to go see ALL the time.) They are a jazz quartet called Neighborliness. They played 2 songs - the 2nd one was a totally upbeat jazz rendition of "Walking in Victory" featuring a sax.

It was SO Tommy Clarke.

Lots of prayers for the amazing Clarke Family.