Saturday, December 3, 2016
Hi Mike,
Your memorial service was a good one. Lots of people attended and some of your old friends told stories about themselves and you when you were all growing up in Cambridge. Some of the stories were funny, all were poignant. There were some tears and lots of love in the room. Will and Kris did a really great job organizing. I know you hate parties and large get-togethers and wouldn't have wanted to attend, but I think you would have been proud and happy to be a fly on the wall for this one.
I think about you a lot. About 4th of July parades (with our kids), trick or treating (again, with our kids), your annual outstanding summer birthday parties that will never come again. About Rocky Pond and the Cape and building the tree house and watching the Red Sox on big screen TVs. And about knowing you were there every single damn time I needed a ride to the Honda dealer. This last thing (the ride to the Honda dealer) is perhaps the most significant because the overriding theme of the comments at your memorial was... your generosity. To a person, everyone talked about how you were always there for them, always and at any time. I don't know if you knew how much people recognized and appreciated your selflessness, but they did and they do, and it was evident and expressed in that room today. Again, lots of love from lots of people today,- and all directed to you.
I think the thing I will miss the most is the simplest,= just talking about anything and everything as we sat at that round table of yours on the porch on a summer's day. It was always so relaxed, so... easy. Sometimes we were alone, sometimes with Stevie or Paul, occasionally Kris or Will. And again, it was always so relaxed, so easy, so......right.
So Mike, thank you for being in my life and the life of my family these past 25 years. Under that sometimes gruff demeanor, you were a kind and gentle soul indeed. I'm glad you're out of the physical pain you've felt for some time now, and will no longer have to deal with the emotional pain you've felt since Lee died. You're probably in a better place. But I love you buddy, and I'll miss you. Be well.
