I miss you every day, my dear, sweet man. I wish you were with me as I ski through the mountains today. I know your love for nature, adventure, and fun would make my day, a better day today. I carry you in my heart every day. I miss you and love you.

Dear Greg,
You touched my life over 40 years ago, you talented, fun, caring and beautiful inside and out stoled my heart. As you sore high above this earth, may you find peace and the love you've always been searching for. You will be sincerely missed....Until we meet again sweet man.

Missing our troubadour friend this morning. Sweet memories swell my heart listening to his songs. We are all so blessed by him still . 

Sometimes I miss island life and yet other homes called me away years ago. Now I'm able to come up to our small island weekly and delight in seeing any of you for an embrace in a moment of hello knowing how fragile life is now, seemingly more than ever before. 

Blessings of love and peace to you all

Aho brother. No one can truly know where you are but I look up to your light.

Deb, what a wonderful story! It gives me hope, and maybe Greg will over- light the project somehow. I'm glad that you and Vicki met outside Healing Circles. And of course, I'm interested in Whidbey Share a Home myself. Thank you for sharing all this. I cannot figure out how to reply to tributes, so just adding another posting here. 

Lucinda, thank you for beginning this enlivening of our remembrance and connection with Greg. I have been thinking of tying to get some connection going here on the anniversary of his passage. Here is what happened for me: I have had various discussions over the last year or two around the idea of giving new life to 'Whidbey Share a Home'. This has renewed energy recently in conversations with Vicki Robin. She suggested we meet outside in the waterfront park for a small initial meeting. Knowing Greg's anniversary was around Thursday, I suggested we meet in honor of him. We decided to gather in the field outside of Healing Circles. It was not Greg's only issue, but the lack of a right home weighed upon him deeply. Our meeting was high energy and even ended with a sense of joyous possibility. In the opening and closing, I playfully invited Greg to help in this project if he was looking for something to do on this level of life - to be the angel of the new 'Home on Whidbey' project. Anyone who is interested this project, please contact me.

I, too, would love to know if others are feeling Greg's presence in this time.

Yesterday, or maybe the day before ( we’ll never know exactly when Greg died) marks the year anniversary of Greg’s choice to leave his life behind.  I wanted to do something for him, so I meditated and reached a deep place of peace and joy, and I dedicated that peace and joy to Greg. Just in case he returned somehow to the place of his death, as some spiritual traditions say souls do on the first year anniversary of death, and he was finding things difficult. Just in case he needed some support and love. 

Yesterday I couldn’t post anything. I’m not sure why. Today I feel compelled to write this. Grief is such a strange journey of ups and downs, do’s and don’ts. Of course Greg’s voice and singing came on when I clicked on the webpage. I love that whenever someone visits here, they hear Greg’s voice and music. Thank you, Deb, for all your work to make that so.

Of course today, the song that came on first was So Close Your Eyes, the one that is the hardest for me to hear. But in that moment, it was perfect. It felt as if Greg was sending me a message. “I don’t know no love songs. I can’t sing the blues anymore. But I can sing this song, you can sing this song when I’m gone.”  It is my fervent prayer that Greg no longer knows any love songs – at least the plaintive unrequited ones he always sang in life. And that he truly cannot sing the blues anymore, since that was also a large part of his repertoire. It is my hope and prayer that the nature of his songs and singing has changed now – and that he has found the Love and Light and Wholeness he was always seeking here on Earth. 

I have the longing now. I just want to know how he is doing, what he's up to in his new existence on the other side.  If anyone has heard from him, please do share it here. Thank you and bless us all.

I know we think of him often - some of us weekly.. and throughout this season of testing.
You came in an interesting dream a few weeks ago...

Lucinda, TracyJoy, Dianna - Just an affirmation about the reawakening of posts in this place of Greg's soul: On the day you first posted, Lucinda, out of the blue I wondered about the site and that no one had posted in so long. Soon after, I noticed that a new post had come just in. I didn't have time to check the new posts until today. I was very busy with family in Minnesota, so it seemed sort of out of context to be thinking of this. Loving Greg, and us all....

A warm hello to Greg's community. On several occasions, since Greg left, I have felt a big beautiful love from Greg. Is it from Greg? I can't say for sure. But for me, when it occurs, I feel certain it is from Greg. The Love is palpable, and beautiful. And, for me it's often followed by a grieving that we were not able to share that kind of Love while he was here in his body. And, great gratitude and appreciation to experience this Love now. And, great tender compassion for the parts of me and others that struggle to experience that Love. . . . Ten days ago, I awoke and watched a dance video of a friend "Archangel Invocation". Watching that video brought Greg very present to me in a palpable way. I was reminded that, back in June, James DeLong suggested I connect with Vickey Weaver. He thought we would both greatly appreciate connecting. And he was correct. Though I did not follow through until 10 days ago. Connecting with Vickey, hearing her stories, telling mine. Being together over Zoom was very nourishing and healing for me. I hope others are finding ways of connecting with others in Greg's community. For me, as I share my stories and hear the stories of others, he is honored and my heart is healing.

Thank you for your words, Dianna. I too know that Greg hears us all, in our hearts and our thoughts and memories. I talk to him often, hold him in my meditations and practice each day, sending him love. The idea that he was checking in here is really just me, smiling, imagining him doing so. He did need that kind of reinforcement and feedback, for his music, his choices, his daily life. Something I shared with him steadily, through all the years I knew him. Yes, he was an extraordinary human being. I imagine that he is being one still, in another form and dimension now. I do sense that he is being of help to himself and others, in ways he could not do so here. Blessings to us all!

Dear Lucinda,
I think of Greg often. I'm sure others do, too. I still ache. But I'm convinced that my thoughts, my pulses of the heart, reach him as surely as any written communication. I find myself still grappling with his decision to end his life, yet more accepting of it than I was...and more respectful of it. I see these tributes as our comfort for each other at the loss of such an extraordinary human being. Although it may have been some months since the last posting, Greg is far from forgotten.

I came to this site today just to hear Greg's voice, missing him, missing our Sunday afternoon walks, our conversations. Of course, the song that came on first was Autumn Leaves - a song Greg loved singing; a song he sung so beautifully. Autumn leaves are drifting past my window now. The seasons have turned from spring to summer to fall since Greg left us. Autumn - the season of letting go. 

I am still seeking ways to let Greg go. I felt sad today that no one has posted here since July. I have an irrational sense that Greg wants us to keep posting stories and tributes - that he checks in now and then to see who has visited "his place."  So I am posting a poem I found about grief, imagining, hoping that he will find it and feel me near.  I love that it was written hundreds and hundreds of years ago. That someone's grief then could speak so powerfully to my grief now.

Be well, dear friend. Know that your voice and presence are ever with us, and that we are ever with you,  as the seasons turn.

Tis a Fearful Thing
by Yehuda HaLevi (1075 – 1141)

‘Tis a fearful thing
to love what death can touch.
A fearful thing
to love, to hope, to dream, to be –
to be,
And oh, to lose.
A thing for fools, this,
And a holy thing,
a holy thing
to love.
For your life has lived in me,
your laugh once lifted me,
your word was gift to me.
To remember this brings painful joy.
‘Tis a human thing, love,
a holy thing, to love
what death has touched.

Like the sound of waves on a rocky shore he lives in the precious moment so swiftly passing.

Our house was often filled with music as my beloved Laurie and Greg blended their beautiful voices. Calling All Angels was their signature piece — bittersweet, since we call both of them angels now. Greg created one of his spontaneous songs, You are Love, for Laurie at Healing Circles a few months before she died of inoperable brain tumors. At her Celebration of Life I relied on him for his meticulous attention to the sound and flow of the service. After she died, Greg and I shared our grief, created meals, watched movies on TV, and became friends. On a text not long before he died, he sent me a message addressed to Laurie. Part of it reads: “You were such a bright light and a gift to the world. Thank you for being an example of how to be a loving, playful presence. I know a body was too small for you and your soul needed more room. Please look out for me up there and give me support in the ways that you can. I love you and release you to fly. Much love, Greg.” Dear Greg, I return these perfect words to you with my forever love.

Greg was a good friend from high school. We attended a dance together and always had fun whenever we were out. We had a great group of friends. We shared many classes together and lots of laughs. I’ve never forgotten my sweet friend and when I lived in Issaquah had always meant to get to Whidbey to hear him sing. As a high schooler, I always thought his older sister, Linda, was so beautiful :) He had a wonderful family. Now he is singing in heaven for all eternity and we will see him again one day ❤️

Greg, you would have turned 65 today, June 26th, 2021. 
Thinking of you on your birthday, upholding that you are experiencing new birth in new ways wherever you find yourself now on your journey through the Great Beyond.  Blessings to you, dear one. Holding you in my heart and practice, sending Love.

Address Unknown by Drew Lamm
For Greg

The thing about suicide is the package is too heavy
to deliver, carry, live with, open.
Laughter creeps off, can’t lift its head.
The act overpowering the whole,

movie ending, before resolve,
before the hero reaches whatever it is.
And we are left in the dark without him, her,
story stopped in the middle somewhere.

No one can click on the lights.
peering into a space we can’t see.
Nothing.
Above everyone’s heads, the letter Y.

At some point one of our storytellers
picks up the needle and begins sewing again,
speaking to the stitches,
that one time he or she or we...

We must tell stories. We must
tug on the line the sinker dropped to the bottom
and pull up something glistening.
Something to feast on.

Though it feels as if the story’s erased,
sense left, there was a full life there,
a beating heart
before it stopped.

Cupping our hands around the fragile, we
gently blow on embers.
Emerging from the cavern, we remember.
It was not all dark.

It has been along time old friend. I wondered where you moved onto. It has been a life time since we worked our way through eastern . Pushing each other to do the best we could. It was always good to tell each other to "pay attention to detail ". I have always felt we only have a few true friends in life and I feel lucky to have called you one. You were truly a gifted person. You will always be a part of my continuum. I remember we were working on the old Mercedes and then you showed me your new guitar. .....

For Greg’s Families by relation and of Heart.
Greg, the day you left us I’d been listening to your music. I needed something that would soothe me and center me as I was experiencing a challenge and needed to focus. I listened to Wings four times through. As I was wrapping up my day’s task, dancing across the room, I thought of how I had not seen you for quite a while. I decided I was going to try to reach you to let you know how much your music spoke to me. The next morning when I opened up my computer, I read you were gone. I’ve felt a heavy heart daily. Being able to come together as the South Whidbey community to honor your life has helped some. You are always here when song and dance make a presence. Never to be forgotten. 

In music and memory, you are in our hearts and thoughts, Greg. Thank You for your gift of life, your compassionate soul; the Blessings you gave this world.  May you be in the Light of Peace, all your days. 

To family and relations of this gentle man.. he goes with you ever so graciously in the Spirit of Love.  Blessed Be to You, too...  Shirley

My condolences to the family. I only knew Greg through my job in public service but the impression he left on me was indelible.
He always showed respect and asked little but in a matter of minutes he expressed a witty and genial personality that was instantly likable. Whenever Greg came through the doors of the library he always acknowledged staff at the circulation desk with a smile. I’m so sorry for your loss.

What a loss for our Whidbey community!  What a kind, artistic man. Certainly been a difficult year, particularly for those who are sensitive souls. Let's start today by reaching out to those who may feel isolated, just one more day could have made a difference.

I fell in love with Greg at an Open Mic at the Raven (now the Braeburn) 20+years ago.  Barbara Dunn had just played/sang an amazing powerful feminist tribute song. Way to go Barbara..wow!  Then,Greg was next. He got up and proceded to sing the most beautiful heart warming song inviting  the masculine and feminine to honor and respect each other and find the beauty in each other....something like that.  It was a Wow.   I went up to him afterwards to share how I was so struck by the beauty of the song and how amazing he had the perfect song at the perfect moment all ready to go. "Who wrote that song?" I asked.  HA! That was Greg's gift and genius. HE wrote it...at that moment...for that moment ...only.  No recorder . Only those there were gifted with that brilliant creative offering.  I would always bug him to record those spontaneous original compositions but he felt that took away from their power and the moment.  Those of you that were blessed to witness/receive one of these know how blessed we were....and are. I trust your blessing is continuing on in the hearts of so many. Thank you Greg....Still love ya!  

Ahh,

my love,

when my time comes
    to step through
     death's door
 
meet me on the threshold
     and waltz me into heaven

and laugh again we will

laugh again
we will

knowing the dance never ends

the dance
never
ends

Many, many thanks to those who put together the tribute to Greg and who got this website up and running. You gave our community a chance to grieve, celebrate, and heal together. I'm touched that Greg's family was able to attend and to experience the great amount of love for him present here on Whidbey. If it offsets their shock and grief even a tiny bit, and if it is part of what they remember about Greg's place in the world, I'll be heartened. So, thanks to all who played a part in Greg's commemoration ceremony.

Bittersweet feeling for our brother Greg. Irene and I are with you all in spirit during this beautiful and sorrowful time.

Greg left so much love and gift with our community. The Goodenough's hold him dearly.

I will miss you. Thanks for making the cello sound great!

Greg Garbarino -- poet and jester, singer of song, teller of truth, servant of community, artist of honesty, troubadour of our deep and profound selves -- you always were and forever will be dearly beloved.

With Greg’s passing I have been reflecting on how lucky I feel to have grown up with people always playing music at our house. I loved when Greg would sing. I hope he knew how much I cherish those memories. Love you Greg, rest easy❤️

Rest in Peace, Greg. Thank you for your beautiful music. I will always remember you and your songs' beauty. Karin Blaine

"They are not long - the weeping and the laughter
The love, the desire, the hate.
I think they have no portion in us after we pass the gate.

They are not long the days of wine and roses.
Out of a misty dream our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream."

– Ernest Dowson, from "Vitae Summa Brevis" (1896).

What an amazing man. I've known him for 25 years. He was such a generous man. I played a song for my friend today.

Oh, My Beloved Friend,

Thank you for twenty blessed years of knowing you.

I will forever treasure the many times that you and I sang and played music together. You were my buddy of the spontaneous nature, co-creating out of thin air ... always something more beautiful than we could imagine.

Just wow. I will miss you and always think of you fondly.

Ya Salaam Ya Salaam Ya Salaam.........

Peace. Peace. Peace.

Sing on forever bro in gentleness and sensitivity

Sadly, I will not have hope of seeing you again or hearing you sing, live in your beautifully bodied being. Your sound waves and memories will live on.
I remember the uplifted heart I felt when you joined in our gatherings. Its been decades now since I have lived on Whidbey--but seems like yesterday thinking of you and your wonderful loved ones on the island. Rest in deep peace and love.

Greg Garbarino - In Remembrance


Gregory Garbarino, dear friend, musical colleague, and long-time member of our South Whidbey Island family, has departed this life on eagles’ wings, and wings of song.  Sadly, we can no longer lift a glass together to a wonderful musical or artistic success, or walk together through the beautiful Whidbey landscape.

Greg was such a part of the social, artistic, musical fabric of our lives.  He danced with us, sang with us, played instruments with us . . .  and he skillfully recorded our concerts, recitals, shows, and so many other special occasions. Always available to help in any way, from running errands, to moving household furniture, Greg had a big heart, a great sense of humor, and total dedication to excellence and detail.  

Our times together, in our home, on Ireland trips, in concerts at Langley UMC, Whidbey Institute, WICA . . . Greg’s amazing and beautiful “on the spot” song improvisations . . . such precious memories. Our hours spent together editing concert recordings and listening to Greg’s latest acquisition of sound equipment . . . searching for treasures at Good Cheer! 

And now we are left with only our own “memory recordings” of this remarkable man.  Precious remembrances that will not quickly fade, but will last as testimony to the beauty and strength that one person can bring into the world.  Dance, sing and play on, dear friend.  

Bill and Donna Humphreys
May 2021
Medanales, New Mexico

Though we need to weep your loss,
You dwell in that safe place in our hearts,
Where no storm or night or pain can reach you .

Let us not look for you only in memory,
Where we would grow lonely without you.
You would want us to find you in presence,
Beside us when beauty brightens,
When kindnes glows
And music echos eternal tones.

Stanzas from “On the Death of the Beloved”
By John O’Donohue

Dear Greg,
May your spirit soar into timelessness and infinite space. No limits, no chains, no bounds. May you close your eyes, release your body, and find the peace and rest that eluded you here. You are deeply loved and will be missed and remembered by so many in this precious community.