Remembering Paul

Here’s my son Paul Sebastian Joel, who died five years ago today, in a space where he was most comfortable and most brilliant, way outside the box. Though Paul was short a finger he was long on imagination and musicianship and perfect improvisations. As I said in this blog on the first anniversary of his death, Paul played cello like an angel. In the rest of his life he was inventive and funny and severely independent, sometimes all-too-human and a bit outrageous. For me, remembering Paul is remembering what a marvelous container of the fullness of life he was. What a great smile he had, what great laughter sang out of that fullness.