A much more deserved, but inadequate, eulogy

A close friend of Grant's and his dad's passed away last night.  I consider him my friend too, though we weren't close.  He had a lot of friends, and though I didn't know him well, I can tell you some of what made him special.

Patrick is the type of person that will catch and hold your attention, and probably have you laughing your ass off, within 60 seconds.  He is open and genuine.  He's not afraid to tell you anything about himself.   He has the charismatic personality that makes you feel special and like you're in on the joke.  He makes you feel like a good friend whenever he talks to you.  And you know what?  You are his good friend. 

Patrick loved to travel.  He loved other cultures, and their food and drink.  But he was no sappy liberal that thought every other culture was more beautiful or more perfect than his own.  He had a lot of insight, and saw the hilarity of what might be wrong, tragic, or just different the way other people and cultures do things, while maintaining genuine respect for them.  A classic example is his "Of course we are having cold beer today" story while in India.  I'll butcher the story so won't tell it, but it's a great, simple anecdote he tells that serves to illustrate a basic difference in our cultures.   It was also just a funny story to tell over beers.  It goes without saying that he had a lot of insight into the hilarity of our own culture, too.

Patrick took you under his wing right away, with no reservations, and without judgement.  One of the small things I loved about him, was he always called me by my high-school nickname even though I didn't know him back then.  He heard it once, agreed it was the right name for me, and called me by it from then on, just like my best friends.  But it always sounded right coming from him.  It gave me that sense we had known each other forever. 

Mostly what I know about Patrick, is that he was always laughing. Even if he was talking ill of somebody, it was through laughter, and never cruel.  Everybody around him was always laughing too, many all the way to the finish line. He loved life.  That much is obvious.  He inspires me to travel and learn.  He inspires me to stop whining, get off the computer, and enjoy life.  Or at least light heartedly make fun of it.

Patrick was a great guy, and he will be missed.

So this ones's for Patrick!  And this one.  This one too.  Boy I'm getting drunk.

P.S.

Hey everybody, get your colonoscopies!  Especially you.  You know who you are.

Hey English majors, screw you and your tenses.  I can mix my tenses as much as I want in my blog.

Hey Congress, we need health care reform.  Get off your asses and do it now.  

Hey people who don't think we need health care reform.  Shut up.