in memory

I've never chosen to write about him before, but I feel the need to remember a bit about Abe tonight.

It was 5 years ago today that he passed away. I still can't believe he's gone. And all because of that motorcycle he had to have. Not that I blame him, not at all -- he lived life the way he wanted to live it, and he was happy. I just wish there had been more armor on that bike, a million times more, when he got in that accident.

I love to think of the little things -- the time when we carpooled home from K4K together, and he was running dangerously low on gas, so we stopped at the closest gas station we could find, in Avon. The pump was going unbelievably slow, so Abe went in to ask what the deal was. The guy inside told him that they were all out of regular, and that he'd have to go with premium if he wanted gas. Sensing he was being ripped off, Abe instead pumped $.25 worth of gas (agonizingly slowly) into his tank, and we drove off, in search of another station.

And I remember the time we went to a movie (I can't even remember which it was now) and lunch, and then stopped at the West Hartford Reservoir for a bit. We noticed the ducks were hungry, so he pulled out the leftovers from our meal at Friendly's, and fed the ducks our cold french fries.

We were alway smiling & laughing, always having a great time in my memories. I know that's not true; I know that there were times when we'd sit down and have the most instense, serious conversations. And we always had the best advice for each other. But the most important thing was that we were good friends, and we were there for each other. At least, that's what always mattered to me. I know I could always lean on him when I needed to. Abe was so amazingly strong -- he was like a pillar for all of us. He knew what he wanted in life & nothing would stop him getting there. And he taught all of his friends to believe the same way he did. To believe in ourselves the same way he believed in himself -- and the same way he believed in us.

The world is definitely a dimmer place without him. I hope he knows how much we all miss him, down here on earth.

AMH 1981-2001
love you.