Gabriel

we have some crazy talent in my family ..everyones a musician or writer or performer or artistand some pretty successful toomy uncle Tim is a published writerhe wrote this after my grandmothers memorial .. the morning of Gabriels funeral he was asked last minute .. cause well all of it was so last minutei think he did a pretty damn good job ...A REFLECTION ON GABRIEL (1982-2005)By Tim Wynne-JonesMarch 12, 2005Phil and Liz named their boys after two horn players. Two really good horn players. Joshua who brought down the walls of Jericho (and quite a few night club walls around North America.) And the Archangel Gabriel who plays first trumpet in God’s heavenly house band. Neither of the Wynne-Jones boys ended up actually playing a wind instrument, but there was one horn Gabe never tired of blowing. He never tired of blowing the horn for his big brother Joshua. A little while back, when JW (Joshua) took a Maple Blues Award, it was Gabe who was kind and considerate enough to alert Doc and Woody at “Chez 106.” This is Gabe the promoter we’re talking about, and when it came to promoting the JW Jones Band, he was tireless. So he passed on to Doc and Woody the name of the hotel and the room number in Toronto where Josh could be reached so that they could give him a call – pass on their congratulations -- early the morning after the Awards Ceremony. Really early. Josh, needless to say, was glad of the media attention and more than happy to do a radio interview in the dark of predawn! Professional that he is, I’m sure he’d gotten to bed good and early the night before.(ha !) The Angel Gabriel, apart from blowing first trumpet in the heavenly house band, is a messenger, the bringer of good news. And he is famous also, as a comforter. The Bible isn’t clear on this point but you’ve got to think Mary must have been pretty confused when this big winged guy appears in the house and tells her she’s going to bear the Savior of Mankind. I mean this kind of thing didn’t happen all that often. Gabe probably had to talk her through it. She must have been frightened. Gabe would have had to reassure her, listen to her and be there totally for her. That’s what our Gabe would have done, anyway. His famous namesake was the angel who came to Jesus in his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was a comforter, a shoulder to cry on, someone who could cheer you up. Sounds like Gabe, all right. I’m going to stretch this heavenly comparison one more notch. The angel Gabriel along with his sidekick Michael have the reputation of being the heavenly bouncers. They’re the ones who stand at the doors of a church to check your ID bracelet and make sure you’re not the Devil incarnate. Well, Gabe, clearly, was no bouncer. He wasn’t into conflict or confrontation -- didn’t have a mean bone in his body. But he was a guardian, nonetheless. He worked security at Blue Skies, the summer music festival up the road apiece, where he and Josh have been going since they were babies. Gabe got involved in Blue Skies in a big way and joined the security team because, when you care about something, when you enjoy something, you want to make sure everyone gets a chance to enjoy it. That’s the kind of person Gabe was. A behind the scenes kind of guy, making sure everyone was happy and things were running smoothly. Obviously, if you’re in security – even at Blue Skies – issues are going to crop up now and then, but Gabe never, never lost his cool. Alison, the head of security, was telling me the other day that Gabe could get along with anyone. His biggest weapon was his smile. Maybe he was so good at the job because, as it says in his obituary notice, Gabe saw the goodness in everybody. Yesterday I read the eulogy at my mum’s memorial service. Gabe’s Nanny Sheila. It was a sad occasion, to be sure, but more of a celebration, really, of a life well lived. Afterwards, the family came back to the house and there was a wonderful party with much laughter and remembering. All of Gabe’s Wynne-Jones aunts and uncles were there and most of his many cousins. It was a good time, except, when you remembered. With your eyes closed you could hear whose laughter was not there. Nobody wanted the party to end because when it did, there was nothing to do but cry. Where, God help me, are we to find any joy in this ceremony today? Let’s face it -- none of us really wants to be here. And yet there is nowhere else in the world we want to be. Nanny Sheila was 88 years old; Gabe was exactly a quarter her age. But I said “well lived” when I was talking about Nanny Sheila’s life and that has nothing to do with time, really, does it. It’s about what you do with what time you’ve got. It’s about how much you put into the moment. It’s about the giving and the taking of happiness; it about smiling. Gabriel’s life was not near long enough but, man, did he get good smileage out of it. And if there is no joy we can get out of the actual ceremony, let us get as much joy as we can out of this gathering. We loved Gabe and were fortunate enough to have been loved by him. I hope it turns out that Lennon and McCartney were right when they said all you need is love. But for the next little while it’s going to be hard to believe.