ADAMxFORD.com

Close-up detail from a 4x5' oil on canvas portrait made for Adam's 16th birthday.

The funeral was said to be the largest the funeral home had ever hosted.

If you would like to make a donation in Adam's name, instead of flowers:

The Humane Society of the United States - http://humanesociety.org/

American Lung Association - http://www.lungusa.org/

Thanks to everyone who sent food, flowers, and good wishes to the family.

Dick Ford

Sixteen years ago I held my baby for the first time. I did not know it was possible to feel so happy, or so much in love.

Ten months and a day ago I held him for the last time. My capacity to feel happiness and love had expanded much because of a boy. Adam's last day was a good day. He performed a song for me he invented (but didn't write down).

"It's tough to be a vegetarian
Or a vegan if you are one.
Some people don't understand;
Some people just wanna make fun."

It went on for twenty minutes like Alice's Restaurant - he was funny. We planned to record it when he came home from visiting his mom's parents that weekend. We had many plans for the next week. He was a boy who knew what he wanted. We were going to shop for a Les Paul guitar - he performed his song with his new Martin.

We had a good homeschool session that day. He snuggled next to me while I explained geometry; it finally made sense to him. Many times during the day I patted his head or shoulders. I called him 'favorite son'. I told him I loved him above all others. He was a happy boy. When his grandparents drove away with him, he looked back at me. I made the hand sign for 'I love you'. He smiled at me. For the last time.

Many question remain about his death. The fragment of police report I was allowed to see opens more questions that it answers. The sheriff chooses to reveal or explain no further. Litigation is so slow. And heart-breaking. I still lack the heart and health to be productive. But at least I've started painting again, so there is hope.

To all my friends and family who supported me and kept me taking one more breath after another, I offer my deepest thanks. To those whose charities I overtaxed or whose expectations (and deadlines) I could not reach, I apologize.

Adam's page: http://dick-ford.com/adamxford/index.html
Adam's birthday painting: http://dick-ford.com/adamxford/AdamPortraitB-web.jpg
Adam's Crossroads film fest video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwl85s7-3K8
Adam's music behind my short film, Whirl: http://dick-ford.com/sketch/Whirl-E.mov

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong. -- WH Auden

Adam's email tag line was, "To sleep, perchance to dream." A fitting epitaph might be the last line from Hamlet, "The rest is silence." But instead, I think it will be a variation on Mark Twain's line, "Where Adam was, there was Eden."
Be of good cheer,
Dick Ford

Adam started this webpage a few months ago. Now that he is gone, his final photos from October 2008 are here.

Adam played with his photo in front of the Wardrobe that leads to Narnia at Disneyworld.

Within a life comes more than most think.
Within a story come more than black ink.
Why do we say what we say?
How can a cloud be so grey?

When we are born we can not see
What goes around us which may be
A wonderful, beautiful, magical tree.
If only I were you,
And you were me.

From the sun to the moon,
And the moon to the sun.
Within our lives we have to have fun.

When life turns to death,
And we breath our last breath
When a dog has its day,
And we all kneel and pray
and they're taking the body away

A life among lives may not be great,
but it's the almighty god that determines our fate.
FOR GRANNY

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

W.H. Auden

Adam may have made the following recording on his Talkboy (as seen in Home Alone) probably when he was about 8.

He set pitch and speed to be unrecognizable, so it has been corrected as much as possible: TALKBOY TAPE

There are fragments of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", "Do the Monkee", and The Beatles "Birthday".

Adam recorded himself playing an old autoharp, probably when he was about 12: AUTOHARP TEST