Exactly one month ago today, some time around 8:30pm, I was sitting at a bar table in Legal Seafoods in Atlanta waiting on my dinner of fish and chips. It had been about half an hour since I ordered and I was getting impatient. I arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson airport at 9am, had a full day professionally, and was far past ready to eat and climb into bed. The next four days would be filled with back to back conference schedule, working dinners and social obligations. I wanted my damn food and it kept not arriving.
After repeated promises by the server that it was on the way, a soggy basket of warm fish and cold chips arrived an hour and fifteen minutes after ordering with a plunk as the server turned and walked away without as much as a grunt. I looked at this mess, took a bite to confirm my suspicions, and pushed it away. I no longer had an appetite for this meal, but it wasn’t the just the bad quality and even worse service that did it. I’d been scanning Daily Kos on my phone as I waited, a luxury I’d had little time for since taking leave of the site last November, and what I’d read at here KTK sealed the deal.
That was belinda ridgewood’s memorial diary to our friend and fellow Kossack blueyedace2. I had no idea he was gone and it shocked me to no end.
I didn’t know ace (Adam IRL) as long or as well as others here, even though we joined but seven months apart back in 2005. My fractured history of disappearing and returning to this site over the last ten years has made that a pretty common thing for me. I don’t have the institutional legacy many do in that regard. But what my friendship with Adam lacked in tenure it made up for in depth, and his passing hit me pretty hard.
I realize I don’t need to explain to folks here how someone you haven’t met in meat space can affect you in that way; we’ve all felt it here. That’s really what the late and lingering unpleasantness around the latest upgrade is really all about: grieving the loss of and/or perceived loss of of a community we’ve come to rely on, and which often fill holes in our walking lives. Adams passing left me feeling like I missed an opportunity for one last interaction. It made me wonder about the queues I’d missed or hints I’d deliberately avoided addressing while he was here. It made me question my choice to remove myself from this community, even though my reasons for doing so were sound. Mostly, though, losing Adam made me really sad.
BUT, tonight isn’t about holding another wake or memorial for our dear departed friend. I’m compelled to formally acknowledge it here ‘cause that’s who I am and this is the space to do that. And you’ve all tolerated plenty of my morose and brooding posts over the years, but this isn’t one of them (bet you thought it was, huh?)
Nope. This is a celebration of being back with friends after being away for so long, and part of that is remembering those who used to celebrate with us. It’s a time for reconnecting and reaffirming how I feel about this place, about you and about sharing how happy I am in my walking life. Things are really, really good for me; possibly better than they ever have been. My family is healthy and happy (except for my MIL, who had another stoke, but that’s for another time). My work is great. Basement cat is a handsome, happy peep who GOES OUSTDE NOW!!!! He even comes back!!
But, hey, why spell it all out with words when I can illustrate it in photograph, right? So, here are some pix from my world over the last five moths I’ve been gone. These pix are for you, ace! See y’all in comments.
Thanks for reading and viewing!
— bastrop
Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who aren’t throwing pies at one another. So bring your stories, recipes, pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links to diaries or news stories that you think this community would appreciate. (We’re not doing rox/sux here.) Or just drop by and tell us about your weather. Newcomers may notice that many who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but we welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.