It’s been on my mind all day. It’s late here, I should have been in bed by now, probably. The end of February 14, 2001.
It would have been Wally’s birthday today. The first since he died. He would have been 54.
Two days ago, his birthday reminder popped up on ICQ (it does this with all b-days). Eerie! I’ve never had the heart to take WallyM7 off the list, you see. So there is was. The li’l “birthday cake” icon blinking in my tray. “WallyM7 has a birthday”.
You know what? He DOES have a birthday. One year older - no doubt a very tough day for his family. I think of Amy, his lovely daughter that he introduced to the boards shortly before he left this world. I hope she and her family are doing OK today. I hope they’re finding a way to move on with their lives.
Because I, for one, am still amazed at how much I miss Wally sometimes. I mean, come on! I’m the rational type of guy. I only knew Wally through the Boards, the occasional e-mail, and during the last weeks, some hilarious ICQ conversations. Pretty superficial stuff. Right?
Apparently not. I miss you, Wally. I’m raising a beer for you here, mate. It’s in a can, but it’s essentially good stuff. I’m not religious, so I don’t have a clue where you are now. All I know is that I wish you were here, ya putz.
Ditto. I had an even more superficial relationship with Wally, but I miss him, too. God knows he would have gotten a kick out of the plugged up bathtub, my fall down the stairs, and a slew of other experiances that I still classify in my head as “Wallyesque.”
Now, who will join me for a round of the Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday song?
Oh Wally, I hope you are enjoying some tequila on this day, enjoying things that we don’t know because you are in a better place, that you are happy and haunting us with your fun self and being the angel to our boards.
I had no idea that today was Wally’s birthday. It makes sense. Today is a day when we show others how much we care for them. Wally did that every day of his life. I miss him.
Happy Birthday Wally.
(If you see my grandma there, offer her a piece of cake, okay? She loves the sweet stuff.)
I started here after Wally was gone. I’ve spent so much time reading old threads involving him. I couldn’t help but see how awesome he really was. Whenever anyone mentions him I still think of the Wally Trys Cybersex thread. Damn I wish I would have joined this board a year earlier and got to know him Well Wally I hope you are living the life up there.
I read your posts for months before I registered, always thinking that I had time to register later, and hopefully get to know you. After you passed away, I couldn’t bring myself to register until June had finished. I hadn’t ever really thought that I could miss someone who I didn’t even know, but it turns out that I do miss you… Thank you for being such an amazing person and for inspiring me to become part of the SDMB community.
