Good words from good friends

Andree here. I'd like to post a couple of the wonderful things E's friends are sending in as tribute. . . so many, and I will do my best to do you justice. I'll start with Andy (and Amy) Collen:

Erik is a unique spirit that I feel I have captured a small sparkle
within my own spirit.  At this moment I could only wish that I had
more time with him.  However I am a half full kind of person and so was Erik.
I hold a place in my heart for a great fire pit and I will never let that erg go.
Erik to me was a bright shiny object that gave me the power to move on through life.
It is only in the last few months that I have really began to realize how much
someone can influence you.  Erik was and still is a great spirit and
every once in a while I reach into that spirit.
So what little contact we had I must say that I cherish every minute
and will constantly revisit his spirit.  I am not a religious person but I do believe in spirit
and I know that Erik is with us all.  I am thankful for what little time I had with my big buddy.


Dreanna sent along a consoling verse from Mark Strand, Poet Laureate:

A Piece of the Storm
From the shadow of domes in the city of domes,  
A snowflake, a blizzard of one, weightless, entered your room
And made its way to the arm of the chair where you, looking up
From your book, saw it the moment it landed.  That's all
There was to it.  No more than a solemn waking
To brevity, to the lifting and falling away of attention, swiftly,
A time between times, a flowerless funeral.  No more than that
Except for the feeling that this piece of the storm,
Which turned into nothing before your eyes, would come back,
That someone years hence, sitting are you are now, might say:
"It's time.  The air is ready.  The sky has an opening."


And Chris Kuhr wants us to know of the effect E had on him:

I did not know Erik well, but worked with him on a few projects and he
definitely left his mark on me. He was such a positive, intelligent,
humorous, and genuine man. And because of this, I felt like I have known him
for much longer. I know I will miss him and try to keep his memory alive by
following some of the examples he has set in his life in my own. My heart
and prayers go out to his family and friends and hope that he makes as many
friends where ever he is now as he had when he was with us.
 He will truly be missed.

* * *

Yes.  He will that, friends.  Thank you for everything.