I’ve been reading Andrew Olmsted’s blog for over five years. I didn’t always agree with him, but I always enjoyed reading what he had written. He hadn’t posted on his blog for several months, but he was sending updates as a columnist for the Rocky Mountain News, From the Front Lines. I was quite surprised today when I saw a new post in my rss reader, but my excitement turned to sadness as I read his final post.
Tonight I am sad, even though he asked us not to cry, I can’t help it. I never got the chance to meet him in person, nor had I ever engaged him in conversation online. But I felt I knew him, and knowing he is no longer with us really hurts my heart.
What I don’t want this to be is a chance for me, or anyone else, to be maudlin. I’m dead. That sucks, at least for me and my family and friends. But all the tears in the world aren’t going to bring me back, so I would prefer that people remember the good things about me rather than mourning my loss. (If it turns out a specific number of tears will, in fact, bring me back to life, then by all means, break out the onions.) I had a pretty good life, as I noted above. Sure, all things being equal I would have preferred to have more time, but I have no business complaining with all the good fortune I’ve enjoyed in my life. So if you’re up for that, put on a little 80s music (preferably vintage 1980-1984), grab a Coke and have a drink with me. If you have it, throw ‘Freedom Isn’t Free’ from the Team America soundtrack in; if you can’t laugh at that song, I think you need to lighten up a little. I’m dead, but if you’re reading this, you’re not, so take a moment to enjoy that happy fact.
Many of us don’t get the chance to say goodbye, or tell our loved ones how we feel before we die. How Andrew was able to write his final post months before he died, I’ll never know. It took all my strength to read it, I can’t imagine the strength it took to write it.
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