A Year Ago Today We Lost Someone Special

Kevin Mattatall was a special person; someone who you only come across once in a lifetime – if you are lucky enough. Though, I never got to meet him IRL, there was a bond there that is not describable. He is still on my MySpace page as the person who I’d most like to meet. Not only was he a special person, but he was also one of the greatest bloggers I ever had the privilege of reading.

All who knew Kevin will agree that he liked a cold One or the occasional sip of vodka. After a few of these, he would have the propensity for deleting his blog. All of us have been known to delete a post or two, but I can recall (on numerous occasions) reading the most awesome, bizarre, tugging blog post one evening only to find the entire blog gone the following morning. Not just the single post, but the entire thing. Gone. Needless to say, I had his blog(s) on my RSS feed to ensure I didn’t fall victim.

He was part of a tight-knit online community -- the community that, luckily for me, my (then) future wife also belonged to. A group that is still held together today – thanks, in part, to social networking. Long before social networking, there was a group of people that somehow stumbled upon a lowly little webcam chat site. We were all there for a myriad of reasons, but I think we all stayed for the conversation. At the time, it was one of the last places to have a decent conversation online. It was a kind of place where you wouldn’t feel awkward with having your mother looking over your shoulder while you chatted (well, most of the time). Anyway, Kevin often liked to stir up the pot and he was good at it. This often got him booted, but he was always allowed back (thanks, Paul).

He called our house a short time before his death. It was more out of the blue than normal. He would often call after a few to profess his love, but we hadn't heard from him in a while. Anyway, I knew he was sick (or at least I knew he knew he was sick), but I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to ruin the time -- for any of us.

My friend, you will be missed. I will always be sad that you never got to experience a Midwestern summer night and a six-dollar bottle of vodka. I think we would have been great friends for a very long time.

In Kevin’s memory, I have deleted every single one of my previous posts on this thing. No biggie, it was all shtick anyway. Maybe something good will come of it?

Selah.