| Home | Prologue

The New Chapter Begins

My Life is
Under Construction

The Johnson 3
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My life has changed dramatically since July 14th 2002.
I became a widow .
Now forced to find  the "me" without "him" .
He helped define Me in so many ways.
Lover, mother, wife  .
I'll always be thankful for those golden years given to me ,loving him and making a life together.
As with the good comes the bad, his death has  made us all murder victim  survivors.
Left in a darker, lonlier world  without his love & presence  to shield us from some of  life's   bitter winds.
 Although there was  strife &  toil  , there was always love ,and then this shockingly  unexpected  ending.
 
It  is now  all woven into the tapestry of  my life.
 
 I must begin anew with his love a mere  memory ,all the while  sewing the frayed  and broken ends of my life back  together again  making  a totally different pattern  than I ever expected.
 
I will survive.

 Your absence has gone through me like thread through a needle.

Everything I do is stitched with its color.

A poem by W.S. Merwin

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His love changed me , his life changed me and his death changed me.
 
Today I miss my Tom.
As I have everyday since July 14, 2002.
 
 
 

Justice is coming for you -they will pay my love.

Things I Like to Do

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Hanging with my daughter , reading, , swimming, walking, traveling , collecting various things (earrings esp.), museums,listening to music , cooking , baking ,graphic design, mosaics,writing...
and there's more -but I'm still finding it.
 
 

More about Me

Favorite Bands or Musicians: Annie Lennox, Sting, Sarah Brightman, Earth, Wind & Fire and so many more
Favorite Actors: Colin Firth , Viggo Mortensen, Scott Cohen
Favorite TV  channels : BBC America, PBS
Favorite movies/miniseries:  Gladiator , Monsoon Wedding, Amelie,The Tenth Kingdom, foreign films
Favorite sports team: blarg, don't follow teams
Favorite food: European, Organic ,  Gourmet & Exotic & Middle Eastern

April '78 to present day
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Countries I have been In:
America
Austria
Azores (Portugal )
Belgium
Canada
France
Germany
Greece
Italy
Luxembourg
Spain
Turkey
 
 

"The Undefended Victim"

For me, no gavel, hammers

The Scales were never weighted.

My Crime was that of a victim,

My life, was the price I paid.

And when my life was taken,

Why weren't my rights read?

And the Statement, "overruled"

When they pronounced me dead?

I'll never hear my rights

Nor take the witness stand,

No attorney to defend me,

My fate was in a killer's hand.

Now the courtroom's crowded

As the defendant pleads the case.

With just the glimmer of a tear,

Cold eyes on a straight face.

But oh, that I could take the stand

If they could witness my last breath,

Could they live with the terror

That I went through in death.

If they could hear my pleading cries

And see the hatred in that face,

At last, we'd know, the scales had

"Been balanced" in this case.

If I could, I'd tell the jury

Exactly how it was,

The fear and pain that I went through

Struck down without a cause.

Did the jury carefully weigh it all

As they listened to the plea?

There were no emotions, showing now,

Just the hope of going free.

The final verdict now is in

As the defendant stands in tears

If only I had done as well.....

Given no years.

~author unknown to me

Illustrations below by SD Johnson ( our daughter )
Work from  2000-2004
Unless otherwise noted they are : colored pencil, black ink and marker.

See more of SD Johnson's work here

Acrylic 2004
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Sun Goddess

Acrylic 2004
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Ichiban orange

Dream Sweet
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Birth of Dawn
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Artemis
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Svodanayaoi
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Flower Born
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Shaela
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apjo_1@yahoo.com