Mark has touched my life in so many ways there is not enough room to share here. We met when our daughters went to school together and later I was blessed to work with him during Wizard Camps at Amazon Community Center. Always gentle, loving, inspiring, funny, and caring, he had a knack for seeing past the negative and bringing out the best in everyone. I can't tell you how much joy I've seen spread across children's faces from being under his spells. I am moved to continue telling stories to my young son and exposing him to myths and merrymaking and magic. Last year at this very time, I came across a beautiful Winter Solstice Poem, (author unknown). I shared it on Facebook, and he asked me if I would send it to him. I did, and he did a recording of it on sound cloud and sent me the link. I just retraced the link and it's gone now, but I'm reposting the printed version here. It seems fitting now, and I'm wishing I could have heard him recite it in person. Peace to you in your travels as you walk toward the dawn, Dear Mark! "All throughout these months as the shadows have lengthened, this blessing has been gathering itself, making ready, preparing for this night. It has practiced walking in the dark, traveling with its eyes closed, feeling its way by memory by touch by the pull of the moon even as it wanes. So believe me when I tell you this blessing will reach you even if you have not light enough to read it; it will find you even though you cannot see it coming. You will know the moment of its arriving by your release of the breath you have held so long; a loosening of the clenching in your hands, of the clutch around your heart; a thinning of the darkness that had drawn itself around you. This blessing does not mean to take the night away but it knows its hidden roads, knows the resting spots along the path, knows what it means to travel in the company of a friend. So when this blessing comes, take its hand. Get up. Set out on the road you cannot see. This is the night when you can trust that any direction you go, you will be walking toward the dawn."