This morning is not so different from numerous other days of recent months, in that I find I am thinking of Mr. Patrick Malone, and there are sometimes tears being shed; the only difference is, if there happen to be a few extra flowing on this day, that's because now some are ones of joy, to know that my friend's long battle is over and he can be at Peace.
Even on the first day Pat is gone from us, he continues to find ways to touch me anew, through Paul's wonderful recounting of how Pat said this thread saved him from feeling alone, and how it has been such a great year he wouldn't have traded it for being well; and Howard telling us about Pat's wish, if he must die this way, to give everything he had to give to others in the process. I think it's a safe bet that Pat gave even more than he imagined he was capable of, and I'm sure he'd say the same about this community regarding what it gave him (and each other, and ourselves). Well he'd be right: I think we all gave, and took, and learned, and accomplished more here than we - certainly I - could have imagined back at the start. And for that we can all be thankful.
Thanks too, to Audiogon, for hosting perhaps the most 'off-topic' (but really, I might suggest, the most pertinent) thread in their history in the single best way they could have done - not, I suspect, because they had to, even though it may not have been so feasible an option to have done otherwise - but because they wanted to. The thread is representative of the best that Audiogon has helped to be brought out within, and brought to, all of us, and that is something to be proud of.
Rest easy, Pat, and thank you: I realize I didn't know you all that well (nor you me), and we may not have shared all the same beliefs, but you are an example to me, imperfections included, of a man who deeply understood - and let himself learn - how to Be, plain and simple, even though life is not plain and simple, as you were not either, as any of us are not. We can call it some kind of grace, or wisdom; it is Love, and may it continue to fill and sustain Barb and your family and friends for the days and years yet to come. May that be the way for us all.
Happy listening always, Alex.
Even on the first day Pat is gone from us, he continues to find ways to touch me anew, through Paul's wonderful recounting of how Pat said this thread saved him from feeling alone, and how it has been such a great year he wouldn't have traded it for being well; and Howard telling us about Pat's wish, if he must die this way, to give everything he had to give to others in the process. I think it's a safe bet that Pat gave even more than he imagined he was capable of, and I'm sure he'd say the same about this community regarding what it gave him (and each other, and ourselves). Well he'd be right: I think we all gave, and took, and learned, and accomplished more here than we - certainly I - could have imagined back at the start. And for that we can all be thankful.
Thanks too, to Audiogon, for hosting perhaps the most 'off-topic' (but really, I might suggest, the most pertinent) thread in their history in the single best way they could have done - not, I suspect, because they had to, even though it may not have been so feasible an option to have done otherwise - but because they wanted to. The thread is representative of the best that Audiogon has helped to be brought out within, and brought to, all of us, and that is something to be proud of.
Rest easy, Pat, and thank you: I realize I didn't know you all that well (nor you me), and we may not have shared all the same beliefs, but you are an example to me, imperfections included, of a man who deeply understood - and let himself learn - how to Be, plain and simple, even though life is not plain and simple, as you were not either, as any of us are not. We can call it some kind of grace, or wisdom; it is Love, and may it continue to fill and sustain Barb and your family and friends for the days and years yet to come. May that be the way for us all.
Happy listening always, Alex.