Dance for Joy

Tim (center)

Those were the days, my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day - Mary Hopkin 1968

One day we'll all be oral history.

But until then, let us not forget.

The sixties, the seventies. And perhaps even the eighties.

Listen.

"Changes", by Tim (Juliff).

Forgive me for being a trifle nostalgic. I have my reasons.

Recently I have been put in touch with a number of my late brother's friends. Of course, there've been there all the time. As have I. But sometimes, unfortunately, it takes a death ...

Never really close, but never really far apart either, we went our separate ways, Tim and I. But at heart we were at one. Children of the sixties. Flower children. Well, more Tim than me, but even me, the older sister.

Kate (Taj Mahal)

Tim's not here any more. But his friends are, and there are so many of them. Some I remember. Heather for example, who turned up at our mother's house with a hundred daffodils stuck in her gumboots. He'd met her in Melbourne's City Square. And Frances from Canada, who named her son after my brother. "Timothy". And so many others. Peaceful and serene. Or noisy and confronting. Heaps of people who willingly accepted me into their lives.

Like so much in life, we accept it when it is there. A given. A thing appreciated but at the same time taken for granted.

And then suddenly it is taken away. And we who are left behind realize what we have lost.

Golden Gate Park, San Francisco 1976

How come I didn't know that my brother was part of Obama Sign Watch? Or that he'd played at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco? I'm finding out just now, from those who knew the Tim that I didn't inquire into, the Tim who I didn't - for whatever reason, know about - as they come forward. Like me. Missing him.

I wonder what else I missed out on? What else did I overlook, thinking it was always going to be be there?

The flower children of last century.

Yes, we thought it would never end.

Let's savor what there is left.

And get by, with a little help from our friends.

All things must pass.