more thoughts of e

(Andree here) I promised more of the reflections our friends shared about the 14th. Let me start with Art. . .

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Thank you Andy,
I feel him everyday in everything I do and know as you that we are all blessed to have him in our lives and a part of everything we do.

My best to the entire Family and warm thoughts of Erik to all.

Best regards,
Art

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And Andy Collen adds. . .
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Just so you know... both Amy and I road to the beach and all we could talk about was how much we missed those awesome production fire pit meetings. Never in my life have I ever met anyone that had a true understanding of what Amy and I do and how to help. Erik was a wealth of information and inspiration for us all.


I started making mead with some of his old equipment....as a one time attempt and now I find myself for some unknown reason thinking about what I could do for the next batch. I can't stop.... I know that is not me in there... rather Erik channeling through me. Hee! Hee! With a sparkle in my eye... Every time I go down stairs to the Mead vault I think of Erik and every time I need to sample the batch... I remember those times Erik just could not contain him self to share the latest brew. My latest and newest attempt is a huge batch of Ginger Mead. I feel now that every time I am racking the mead or drinking with some friends... Erik is there with me. This my way of finally accepting the reality the Erik is no longer with us... but to find a thing that I can do that I can share with Erik's spirit makes me enjoy him so much.... All I can say to everyone is come on over and lets have some MEAD! Hee! Hee! Let me know if anyone is having a party.... !

Love you all!

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There is just a bit more to add, but I will save that for its own.

andrew: "my thoughts of e"

(Andree here again) There were many emails around the 14th of August, bittersweet and grateful and sad, missing E and happy we had him for a while.

Andrew Rotchford started the ball rolling, and I'd like tonight to post one of the threads. There's a couple more, and I promise to post those very soon indeed.

***

ABSENCE.....

I can't believe it's been two years since our good friend left us. We all miss our brother every day, he is in our thoughts and part of our daily conversation, just as if he is still here. It's days like this that remind us that he is in fact...absent. Knowing this, we will always miss our brother, this is a melancholy truth that we will all share for the rest of our days. He defiantly set the bar for all of us, a bar that he challenges all of us to follow and to move forward, exceeding our own perceived limitations and abilities. As long as we keep his amazing zest for life and his uncompromising example of friendship alive in our minds, his drive, humor, philosophy and personal goals will continue on. It's not a cure for the absence we feel, its just a brightly colored sticky band aid that we all wear until we possibly see that big guy again. On that day, I believe as always (per typical selfless Erik) he would be very interested to hear what we have done with our lives. It would be great to tell him once again "Thank you, because of your friendship, confidence, sound advice and by your excellent example we have accomplished things that we would have never thought possible had we not known you. Best of all, we achieved them all with a sense of balance and distinction."

Can you see him smiling? I can...
Andy

RESPONSE FROM DAD:
Well said Andrew, my lad. He is in our thoughts all thru the day and every day.
Thank you...
Terry

ANDREW:
Thanks Terry,

I did however find a weird spell check snafu that I did not notice until later. It changed (He definitely set the bar for all of us) to (He defiantly set the bar for all of us).
Well, I guess in Erik's case, they both work. He was always challenging the status quo, that's what made him so damn cool!!

Maybe Erik was doing a little Ghost Writing helping me with the appropriate syntax. Say hello to Donna and everyone for us.

Talk to you soon,

Andrew

two years

Hey Erik!

This is from your birthday in 1986. What's it like where you are now? What sort of stuff do you know? You probably have Finnegan back now. I'm sure. Do you have a firepit there?

I wonder what you think when you see us. We're fine, sometimes not exactly fine, you know, all things considered. Still scooting around on the earth's crust wondering what the hell happened. You sent a couple of messages we couldn't ignore; of course you figured out something. Is that you in all those shining bubbles that keep popping up in the photos now? Because those didn't happen before. We're pretty sure they're you. They have smiley faces.

We do the best we can, not knowing what else to do. But that's the terrestrial plane for you, huh? Till we get to where you are, each in turn, we all miss you in our own way. We think of you every day. And it looks a lot like you're thinking of us.

Just imagine, will you try
I can see that you've opened your mind
Silver linings can disappear, but they always shine
It's always a Mystery, not what it seems to be
It's always a Mystery, just like you and me

You KNOW I had to throw in some Dio, buddy.