A little more composed now but still deeply saddened...
About 6 or 7 years ago, my phone rang about 11:00pm one night. A voice I had never heard asked, "Tony, you doing alright?" I said, "Great...who is this?" "This is mick. I hadn't seen you on the boards much lately, just wanted to call and see if everything was okay." "Yeah, doing great, just been busy." "Alright, see ya on the boards." Click.
That was mick. And you notice I type his name the same way he typed his name, because that said a lot about the man. He had the most gentle spirit, always the voice of reason, and always the one who looked out for everyone else. The man went out of his way to find my phone number, call me to see how I was doing, because he noticed that I wasn't posting very much.
That was the only time we ever spoke in the 14 years we knew each other, going back to the McGriff board in 1997. But we talked via AIM, PM, or email quite often. He would send me pics of 6' of snow U.P. there or his vegtable garden. He was proud of Abby and Matt and spoke often of the two of them living in western NC. We always said we needed to get together and work a game, sometime when he came down to visit them.
I thought I had regained my composure but I guess I was wrong...
I posted last week on his Facebook page, because I noticed that he hadn't posted in a while. Looking back now, his last post was in a thread I started regarding my daughter, who I was so proud of for being the salutatorian in her high school graduating class. He was just as proud.
I miss him already.
Blow one for me, mick.