I remember the first time we met Gretel Gammache. It was at the Bernie headquarters in Lancaster PA and she was doing a painting. This created a great first impression on Tomaso and me. Little did we know at the time we’d be co-creating a legacy together surrounding the power of progressive politics in our hometown (Bernie actually won in Lancaster City in the 2016 primary) and an ever deepening story that continues to unfold in our lives now and going forward.

As I sit in the early morning light, and snow swirls from the sky, I think of how the millennial generation embraced older radicals like Tomaso and me. For so long, every political event we participated in was attended by people our age, jaded and cynical by past movements that never realized agendas to help and embolden citizens of America.

Enter Bernie Sanders. Enter the enthusiasm of young people who mysteriously embraced people our age even as they created momentum based on the vision shared with Our Revolution movement, created by the inimitable Bernie Sanders.

Tomaso’s Last Breath exemplified a full embodied life in each breathing moment. His friends recognized this about him. Deep conversations long into the night regarding philosophy, spirituality, life and death, sitting around special food he had prepared, were the cornerstones of our life together. His many friends love(d) that about him.

Gretel discerned Tomaso’s enduring qualities. Bernie brought us all together. The pandemic seemingly fractured these relationships but new survival skills have arisen to bring us all together, again.

Gretel‘s life as an artist is evolving. Her unique skill as a survivor is illustrated in all of her many paintings of Bernie, Bernie’s wife Jane, Bernie surrogate Nina Turner and so on. Gretel and best friend Dylan presented a portrait of Bernie to me last evening, dedicated to our dear conrad in peace, Tomaso.

May 2021 be a year for We The People.