June 26, 2006
Fare thee well...
I came home today after having been out for a short time to find the Spousal Unit crying. He came out onto the porch when he heard the car drive up, and signalled me to come into the house. He had been and was still visibly upset.
When I came in, he pointed to the monitor. His site was up. I looked. It was a post on the death of a man of whom he and I are very fond and whom we respect.
Rob "Acidman" Smith was found dead, alone in his home. His daughter, Sam, posted the brief notice on his site today. It seems his body just gave up. All of the years of living life as though there were no tomorrow finally produced that exact situation, at least as far as the physical realm is concerned.
Rob was a gentleman, regardless of his own press. I will always remember his kindness to me at a time when I sorely needed a little kindness. And I never met a man, before or after, who could vigorously and mischievously stir the pot like he could. I truly believe he thrived on it. Got his blood up. Gave him something to fight. Scrappers are like that sometimes. But even in the midst of all the turmoil and shit, he would still commit some act of kindness or bravado. You just had to remember to keep your eyes open to it or you'd miss it completely.
I was lucky enough to have my eyes open.
Rob, you are missed. You will continue to be missed. And to all of you who counted him friend and brother, my heart goes out to you. When you all sit down and twist the lid off a mason jar of "Home made wine" in his name, you'd better damned well take a pull on that jar for me.
And Sam, I'm so very sorry for your loss.