A Saturday Of Family And Music In My New Home Town Of Havertown Pennsylvania

Monday, September 28th, 2026

My Dear America:

Although I had one issue with plugging in an Electric Heater and apparently causing the electricity in my new Apartment to shut off, My Landlord reacted quickly and my Electricity was restored right away.

Other than that annoying glitch, things have been falling into place in my new digs in Havertown, Pa. It was a bit sad to leave my long time home in Allentown, PA where I lived with my Wife since the Eighties and we raised 2 Daughters but the time had come and last weekend thanks to my daughter, I moved a great deal of my stuff to Havertown.  I drove down to Havertown the next day, Monday because I have issues with driving at night these days.  LED Lights make it a bit hard for me to see at night so I pretty much stay off the roads when its dark. 

I know I'm going to miss my relatives and Friends who still live in the Lehigh Valley but there are some definite advantages to living down here in Havertown and I found that out last Saturday.  I got a call from my one of my daughters early Saturday Morning inviting me to go to breakfast with her and her sister and my 2 youngest Granddaughters.  Although the day was rainy I had my umbrella ready and easily walked the half block or so to meet them at the restaurant.  It was wonderful to spend time with them and the Western Omlette Breakfast was outstanding.  They all walked with me back to my Apartment which my one daughter had not seen furnished yet and we chatted for a bit and had a nice time.  My Granddaughter who had already provided me with Artwork was pleased to see one of her drawings already on display, thanks to her Aunt.

It was truly a nice start to my first Saturday as a full fledged Resident of Havertown, PA.  I had in mind a rather laid back Day and in many respects that's what it was.  It had been a fun start to the day since any day spent with my Daughters and Granddaughters is a Great Day in my book.  But there was more to come.

I knew that Saturday, September 26th was the date scheduled for Farm Aid, the Annual Fund Raising Concert put on by Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews that I had watched online on occasion in the past several years.  I checked on my new Computer and found that Farm Aid was being broadcast over You Tube so I tuned in.

Once again during the day Farm Aid was exposing some extraordinary talent on the Farm Aid Stage most of whom were not yet well known artists. Although I watched and enjoyed the Farm Aid lineup throughout the day I realized that at 7:30 one of my daughters had bought a ticket for me to attend a concert at "The Kelly Center" called "Imagine Lennon" that celebrated John Lennon and music of the Beatles.  

As 7:30 approached I was watching all that I could of Margo Price performing at Farm Aid but eventually realized that it was time to get to the Kelly Center.  I don't know why I thought that there would still be seats available for this show but I found out when I hustled around the corner to the Kelly Center that the show was sold out and there were no seats left.  Luckily for me Tom Kelly, the Gentleman in charge of the Kelly Center came up with a chair for me and I settled in to enjoy the show.

It was clear from the First Downbeat that the group that was presenting this tribute to Jahn Lennon and the Beatles clearly had done it before and knew exactly what they were doing. They were sensational.

The leader of the group looked and sounded like John Lennon with a few miles on him. He played Guitar and Piano.  There was a Bass player and a Rickenbacker Electric Guitar player.  Both of them were good harmony Singers, as well.  The Keyboard Player was terrific and had a grin on his face throughout the show.  This guy was having a hell of a good time from start to finish.  The drummer was as skilled as they come and to add to all that there were three excellent horn players, two sax players and one trumpet player.  

The group played an exceptionally long set with no breaks and the Audience of Beatle Lovers was thrilled and appreciative of the extraordinary performance that they had seen and heard.

After the Kelly Show I quickly returned to my Apartment where Farm Aid was still going on.  I was thrilled to find that still to come on Farm Aid was Neil Young and Willie Nelson and Family.

It occurred to me as I watched Neil first and then Willie and Family That both Neil and Willie were still outstanding performers but even though they played well both of these performers were not at the peak of their performance as singers. They had both seen better days as performers but that wasn't really the point of what was happening now.  These two Old Timers were not done yet with their careers or with helping out the Family Farmers Of America and certainly Old Neil Young and Old Willie Nelson was certainly better than No Neil Young or No Willie Nelson., at all

I watched what was left of Saturday Night Live after Farm Aid ended and went to bed feeling pretty happy about my First Saturday as a Resident of Havertown, Pennsylvania.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher  

Memories Of September 11th, 2001 - Twenty Five Years Down The Line - Lessons Learned

Monday, September 14th, 2026 

My Dear America:

We just recently celebrated September 11th, 2026.  Twenty Five Years have gone by since that Awful Day when You and I, America, woke up to find that we had been invaded by Terrorists and following that day we would never be the same again.

My Memories of that day are mainly quick flashes of things that occurred throughout the day on 9/11/01.

I have one strong memory and that is that the day was an incredibly beautiful day.  The weather was gorgeous.  The sun was shining.  It wasn't too hot or too cold.  It was just right, the kind of day that you hope to wake up to every day of your life.

I was sleeping soundly and was not planning to get up too soon because I didn't start work until after lunch. Sandy was suddenly shaking me and seemed to be upset.

"What's Wrong," I asked her as I woke up.

"Get Up." she said.  "You have to see this," she continued.  "My mother called me and told me to turn on the television and I did.  It's horrible.  Somebody just crashed their plane into the World Trade Center.

I don't recall if I had ever even heard the words World Trade Center before but I certainly didn't know much about it or even where it was until I came out to our living room and watched what we thought had to be an accident as a quick flash on TV showed what appeared to be a plane hitting a large building which announcers told us was in New York.  We were not the only ones watching the World Trade Center and thinking that it was an accident.  Probably a small plane hitting the World Trade center. The talking heads on TV were convinced it was an accident too.  It had to be an accident, we thought.

And then The Second Plane hit the second building in the World Trade Center Complex and nobody continued to think that either of these plane crashes were accidents anymore.

Over the past few days and into the weekend much has been said about the events of September 11th, 2001 and will continue to be said abut this important Historical Event that shook You to your core, America.  

We know a lot about 9/11 now but that was not the case in 2001 When the Twin Towers were destroyed, The Pentagon was also hit and a little later in the morning the passengers and crew of Flight United 93 apparently fought back against the terrorists who commandeered their plane that was reportedly heading for the Capitol Building in Washington to crash into it.  Fortunately for Congress but not the United 93 Passengers that plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

We didn't know it at the time that this highly organized bit of madness was a once and done effort to destroy more than a little bit of American Democracy.  It looked at the time like a well coordinated First Strike at our country that could just be the beginning attack that might be followed by continued tong term orchestrated violence on American soil.

Clearly none of us knew what in the hell was happening at the time.

What September 11th of 2001 turned out to be was the first day of the first battle of the "War On Terror" that the George W. Bush Administration initiated following the 9/11 terror attacks.  Although looking back on it these days we can clearly see that mistakes were made following September 11th and that Wars were initiated that caused more problems than they solved.  

These days when we see a straight up Fascist in the White House we tend to forgive George Bush for some of his sins because we recognize that although he made some serious mistakes his intentions at the time appeared to be good.

We certainly could have done without the Forever War in Afghanistan and the damn near forever War in Iraq.  But on the other hand Bush was handed a situation that he clearly had to respond in some way to and he did the best he could.  

While it is easy to find fault with much of what the Bush Administration did in hindsight in response to September 11th, back in 2001 it was not clear to anyone back then what the right path was.

At the time that George W. Bush established the Department of Homeland Security it appeared to be the right thing to do in response to 9/11.  These days, however, as we watch the Trump Administration continue to turn ICE and the FBI and other Law Enforcement Agencies into Gestapo like tools of cruelty and chaos it is difficult to observe these agencies as they spin out of control on the streets of America.

Today in our Country We are no longer quite as worried about our destruction from ISIS or Al Quida or some other foreign Terrorist Organization destroying us from the skies as we were in 9/11.

Today in our Country we have more to worry about from those Americans who don't crash our planes into our buildings but appear to be intent on crashing our Democracy from within.

We certainly had been warned by many American Writers over the years from Sinclair Lewis to Norman Mailer and Hunter S. Thompson that one day we might be faced with a Fascist in the White House with very bad intentions.

The worst has happened.  Donald Trump has somehow weaseled his way back into the White House and as long as he is in there we are all up Shits Creek. We are no longer so concerned about Death Planes In the sky.  Our concerns now are more focused on Death Squads in our Cities.

The Vermin are no longer only "Over There". They are also running loose in the White House, In the Republican Halls of Congress and even in the Supreme Court.

And we are running out of time to stop them from turning the United States from a Two Hundred and Fifty Year Old Democracy  into a Russian Patsy State.  

Please Everyone Consider this, Every time you hear Donald Trump running his mouth about Communists Please consider the fact that every time he talks about Putin and Xi he praises them.  If Trump was Anti Communist How come he loves all these Communist Leaders.

Wake the hell up America and Smell the Treason before its too late. 

We are running out of chances to save our Democracy.  

We do have one more chance in November to vote out those Republicans who have been willing to allow Donald Trump to run Roughshod over Democracy for the past year and a half in America.

Let's Vote and Let's hope we are not too late to save Democracy in America.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher

On The Second Anniversary I Have Spent Without You, Sandy

 September 1st, 2026

Dear Sandy:

Today, September First, 2026 is the Second Anniversary of our Wedding in 1979 that I have spent without you.  You passed away on June 9th of 2025 and although I thought I was doing Okay throughout that first year alone I discovered on the Anniversary of your death this year that I had been kidding myself. Since I realized that it had been a year without you I have found myself getting much more deeply depressed than I had been previously.

It is on holidays or anniversaries like today that it really hits me that you are gone, really gone and will never be coming back.  

I start to have visions of the morning you died and collapsed on the bathroom floor and the EMS People worked on you for a long time before taking you to the hospital.  I remember two Doctors coming into the room where I was waiting and I knew what they were going to say before they said it.

"We did everything we could but she didn't make it."

I began to feel faint but they put me in a wheelchair and admitted me to the emergency Room to check my vital signs and my sugar level.  When our daughter arrived we both went to see you and we were both astounded by how beautiful and peaceful you looked.

A lot has happened since you sailed away to heaven.

Our daughter took me down to her new home in Havertown for the week after we left the hospital.  I'm sure you would be very proud of our daughters and our other relatives who have all been very kind and considerate to me since you passed.  I have spent a good deal of time with our daughters and their families over the past year.  Actually both of our daughters and their families now live in Havertown, which is on the Main Line right on the outskirts of Philadelphia.

I will be moving to Havertown myself shortly.  I just signed a lease on a very nice but very small Apartment very close to "The Kelly Center" which is modeled after the "Godfrey Daniels" Music Club that has operated for years in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  The Kelly Center has a lot of musical happenings that I hope to take part in.

I know you will be happy for me but also a little jealous at the same time.  In a way I will be living your dream of residing closer to your daughters and granddaughters.  I know that this was your dream and I'm so sorry that it didn't come true for you.  Although you wanted to move closer to the girls you loved our house and all of the pictures and antiques in it.  I love our house too but I am willing to give up what I need to to be closer to our daughters and granddaughters.

Shortly after your Funeral Celebration Our daughter was able to set me up with a program called Grief Share.  This program is a national program that is generally conducted through local churches.  Grief Share was helpful to me to help me see that I was not alone in my grief.  There were several other people in the program who had also lost people close to them.

I was also very lucky in the past year to find a place to play my guitar and sing close to home on certain Saturday mornings.  The place was a health food restaurant called Cafe 23 in Emmaus, Pa.  

All in all it has been a very lonely year for me.  Although neither of us was in the greatest shape for the past few years We had each other to hang out with, to talk to and to watch Television with and even sometimes get stoned with each other.  I have loved you for a long time and will always love you and know that I was lucky enough to love you and have you in my life for a long time.  I know that my time on this earth is limited.  Your death has taught me that.  But in the time that I have left I will always have your love and life to look back on and realize how lucky I was to love you and share a life with you for as long as I had you in my life.

I miss you like crazy but I will never regret sharing the love that we had for each other during the time that we had together.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher