Everything is Everything

I had a very strange evening last night. We left the office early. Went and dropped the bike off for its first service and then I went to movie night with the girls. We had a quick dinner then went to see Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Let me just say that the movie was AWFUL. I mean I was so ready to walk out. What a waste of my time and money. Not even the loveliness of Brad and Angelina made it worth sitting through.

After the movie I went home and decided to check the email accounts I always forget about. So I checked my gmail. I had about a dozen or so messages, mostly Yafro notices, but down on the bottom was a notice from Classmates.com. Now I don’t remember signing up with them but I must have at some point because there was the email telling me it was my last chance to review a message from Ben G. Ben was a kid I graduated high school with in 1987. I am pretty sure I haven’t seen him since. I really liked Ben; he was (and I assume still is) smart, funny, talented and a genuinely good person. So I was thrilled to have an email waiting from him.

It was brief but sweet. It lead me to his website. That lead me to his pictures. And there were pic after pic of Ben just like I remember him. He looks the SAME. It was almost creepy. His great big smile in every shot. There were pics of him getting married! Pics in London and Paris. Pics of his bowling team. And then a picture of him with Shem and Anna. The title took me a minute to register. Shem T., R.I.P. I sat with that a minute. Shem had been in high school with Ben and me. He was a dear friend to Ben and someone I really admired. He was beautiful, sweet, and smart. Everyone loved Shem. I didn’t quite believe or understand what I was reading. Then I went to the next photo:


------------------Photo by Ben G.------------------------

I just sat there in shock. I realize I am getting this information ten years after the fact but still it broke my heart. I did a Google search next:

http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/20963/edition_id/431/format/html/displaystory.html

This is a wonderful article about Shem’s life. I was pleased to have learned a little more about what he did with his life before he passed away. Shem was just as I remembered him, a man who left a lasting impression on everyone he touched. That fucking rules.

Me

PS Ben if you are reading this, email me!