My Bucket List Was Emptied Friday, May 30, 2014

A couple years back I had a bucket list. I had always intended to reconnect with my childhood friend Chris Gagnon who I knew way back when in Key West — you know, talk about old times, see how he was doing over the years, reminisce ...

Alas, this became undoable when I found out that he passed when we were both around 40.

Though quite a while back I remember that time well as a busy educator wasting my life in the stupid state technical college system and trying to adapt to that blended family which was my brother's propensity for abandoned relationships shirking everything beyond a three foot radius around him.

In all the disappointment — which was mostly about me — I almost lost sight of the true tragedy which was the loss of all that Chris was ...

An artist, musician, writer, and voracious reader, hysterically funny, the epitome of kindness, and possessing impeccable manners. So in all my present day "phobic" rejection of same sex anything I am given pause to consider my fine friend Chris; who I wish were still here to share that which he was with the rest of the world.

Sometimes we tend to casually dismiss that which should be embraced in our humanity. Chris certainly deserved the consideration and the world is far less than it was when he was around to grace it's countenance with his easy smile, intuitive nature, and excellent conversation. He was a nice person as were his parents and I have missed them over the years as well.

Lately I've found that the realization of the nature of his passing makes me feel badly about myself and my attitudes sometimes. It's not that I consider my bucket list to be lacking either, for I have experienced most if not all of that which people accumulate in their experiential inventories over the years. I suppose the lack of items in my bucket list leaves time to work on me and how I feel about things in my continuing quest to actually kick that bucket as far off in the future as humanly possible.

I was originally thinking about a memorial entry on the White Street Pier in Key West because Chris went down hard and I'm sorry for that fact. I just think he should be remembered and he was very difficult to locate. It took me 40 years and all I was able to find were a couple of photos and his obit. A sad notion indeed — but he departed a 20th century man; just prior to the advent of widespread broadband internet and it's subsequent social media, blogging and all of the communication avenues available nowadays.

See also:

Chris Gagnon Obituary