A couple of months before Shawn's dad went into the hospital for the last time, the two of us spent an evening in his computer room as he played me snips of MP3s he'd collected. He was surprised and delighted at the number of songs I knew well enough to sing along to. Some I knew from the folk music my parents listen to, some from sitting around a campfire, and some from Shawn sharing his own love of music that his dad played. Jack even dusted off his guitar so we could toss a few songs back and forth the good, old-fashioned way. That night remains one of my fondest memories of him -- right up there with arguing politics and dancing with him to Kid Rock's "I Wanna Be A Cowboy" at Shawn's neice's wedding.

This past Christmas, Shawn sat around the dining table with his mom and two brothers, and they divvied up the last of his dad's belongings. One of the things Shawn ended up with was a cassette tape of The Irish Rovers.

I was cleaning house and popped the tape in to listen to as I worked. To my surprise, I knew several of the songs -- one from Ian and Sylvia, one was covered by Loreena McKennitt, and one was an old John Denver tune. I'm pretty sure another one had also been recorded by the Clancy Brothers.

As I sang along with the tape, I could see Jack as clearly as yesterday, sitting at his computer, looking up at me with a quizzical challenge.

I miss that cantankerous SOB.