New Year, old friend

Today is the first day of the lunar new year.  The year of the Rat. And as with all new years, I'm looking back.

As I type this, a photo of a dear friend, who passed two years ago of a heart attack, is stuck to the upper right behind my monitor. And a wave of sadness passes as I realize all the adventures and travels we shared together and the absence of any future adventures.

Carlos had a wry sense of humor. It would go blue often.  He wasn't always the nicest person, but he was a caring person who tried to do good and be ethical.

He interacted with his world more than we do nowadays.  You see, Carlos didn't drive.  In Los Angeles, that's a big deal.  So he walked everywhere and took public transportation -- which brought him face to face with a lot of different people.

The people who owned the place where he got his favorite breakfast.
The people where he got his coffee.
The people who rode the bus and subway with him.
The homeless man on the street he would talk to every day as he passed him on the way to work.
The people at the laundrymat.
The people within his church.

It was amazing to see how he touched people just living his every day life.  He wasn't a celebrity or famous.  He was a normal, every day man with a college education and tons of knowledge about art and art history.  Yet, Carlos worked an hourly job and got by like many of us.  All this with sometimes crippling OCD and anxiety.

Looking back, looking forward, and looking at this moment, now... I miss Carlos terribly.   Memories of him remind me to laugh, to get my head and eyes out and into the world instead of in technology, and to connect with people face to face in spite of issues that can easily take you down.

Thank you Carlos, Happy Lunar New Year.  I miss you and I hope you're in heaven enjoying this new year in your own way.  And all I can say about the fact that you're not here is, "Oh, Rats!"  I know you'd groan at that one.  I had to say it.