A friend and mentor to my daughter died last Sunday afternoon from complications from diabetes. The scary thing about this death- he had no idea that he had it. At 42 years old, Jeff Hoke was taken from us way too soon.
An amazing musician and a gifted percussionist he taught many young people including my daughter not only to trust their talent, to always do your best, and to love the music they made. He expected them to be disciplined, but allowed them to be themselves. Each one of these were major gifts. His humor, tempered his anger if you did not work at their craft he was passionate about, but he loved them all as family. He made them better people and good musicians. I will be grateful I shared a little bit of his world.
Jeff leaves a wonderful wife, Beth, and two daughters (Sarah and Kelly), his parents, and immediate family, but there are a legion of others who loved him well, who miss him greatly, and will keep his life-work going because it mattered so much to him.
Yep, you never know when life is going to throw you a curve or cut it short. Let the people you love know that they mean the world to you, take time to enjoy and play when you can, be passionate about something, and don't be afraid to take a chance.
When someone leaves us there is always great sorrow because a piece of us has gone away with their passing. They may be in a better place with all the answers, while we remain on Earth to pick-up the pieces and ask why this happened to us.
Let's take each minute as the gift it is and remember we only have the present- the past and future is just an illusion. BE HERE NOW! As Jeff always said, "Make It Happen". Words to live by, because you never know.
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