Happy 19th Birthday Lance Gilbert Kowalski

This post is in memory of a kid I never met - a kid I came to know about through his mother, Justine Saylors who passed away last year. Lance died on 23 October 2003 - he was her world and the pain of living without him was too much to bear.

I wrote a couple of times in the past about Lance and Justine.

A friend of mine created a sculpture that was - coincidentally delivered to me the day Justine died. It was created the same year Lance was born (1990) and the first time I saw the sculpture was in 2006 shortly after I heard Justine's collection of music that she put together in memory of her son was featured in the Washington Post. The sculpture immediately reminded of Lance and Justine and I resolved to purchase it.


The sculpture consists of two rings, broken in two that appear - at least to me - to be the figures of two people embracing. What I see when I look at it is a mother and child embracing. Other people who have seen the sculpture see a symbolic relationship between the creator and Humanity.

Because it is such an abstract piece, it is open to interpretation. It sits in my back yard and will forever remind me of Lance and Justine.

The day I received the sculpture, I intended to e-mail Justine and that was when I received a comment to a previous post I made in homage to Lance. That is how I found out that Justine had died.

I wish she had seen it before she died. You can read my previous here for Lance and here for Justine.

Happy Birthday - in memory of Lance Gilbert Kowalski.