(Originally posted July 26, 2009)

For Christmas 2008, my sister gave J.J. and me (doesn't that sound like the most awkward grammar ever? But I think it's right!) tickets to see a concert by Brett Dennen, an artist of whom I had never heard. The concert was to take place on February 27, the last day of operation of a venue called the Music Mill on the northside of Indianapolis; this was one of our favorite concert venues. Katie also included a copy of a Brett Dennen CD ("So Much More", for anyone who cares) which sat, forgotten, on the bar in the kitchen for well over a month.

Finally, a little over a week before J.J.'s stroke, I decided we should start listening to the CD in preparation to attend the show. One Saturday as we were going to do our grocery shopping, I popped it in to the CD player in my car. And out came the most low-key, mellow music imaginable. Way different than the raucous, thumping beats that usually can be heard in my car. So while we were listening to it, J.J. and I did what we did best--mocked it mericilessly.

"Is Nyquil one of the major sponsors of his tour?" J.J. wondered. I contributed that the drink special at this concert must be warm milk. We both came to consensus that Brett's backup band must consist of the sheep from the Serta commercials and that instead of throwing guitar picks into the audience, pillows were the obvious choice.

It goes without saying that we didn't attend that concert on February 27, 12 days after J.J.'s stroke. Katie did, and she said it was a terrific show.

A few weeks ago, I was cleaning out my car and rediscovered this CD. And I don't know if it's because my life is so much different that I'm yearning for something more mellow, but I'm finding that I really enjoy the music. It's in heavy rotation in my car now.

Yesterday while we were out running errands, J.J. asked me who was singing on the CD. I answered, "Brett Dennen". He said, "It's...nice".

I'm so grateful that I still have J.J. in my life. But I really, really do miss his sense of humor.