I’ve written many times of my love of Ray Bradbury. He truly felt like an old friend. I’ve been reading his stories as long as I can remember reading, and his _Dandelion Wine_ is my favorite book, from any era. I read it almost every summer.

I’ve been very sad today, after hearing that Ray has died. I knew it would probably come soon – he was 91 – but that doesn’t make it easy.

His stories were so honest, so simple, and at the same time so deep. _Something Wicked_ was about me, and about how my father is, and always will be, my hero. _Dandelion Wine_ was about me, and about discovering that I’m so very alive. _Martian Chronicles_ was about me and my desire to find myself in people different from myself. And so on.

I’ve been thinking all day about a chapter in _Dandelion Wine_ where Great Grandmother says goodbye to her whole family, and then tries to find the dream that was interrupted when she was born. I hope that Ray has found his dream.

Farewell, Summer.