marty basso was a friend of mine.

i was going to tell you all about my last couple of days. how i worked 18 hours the other day (and how that went...), then slept for four hours and then back at it...and how in that time i cut three lawns as well...and...
but i'm not going to tell you any of that...not really. (beware rambling entry coming on....)
i met marty basso around 1977 when i was living in prince rupert. i had seen him around before that, as rupert was and still is a small town, but we hadn't really met officially. we had been on opposing sports teams before that, baseball and basketball, but never on the same team and never in the same school. for a small town rupert had a lot of elementary schools and marty went to the catholic school down the hill from my school so it wasn't until junior high that we started to see more of each other and became team mates and later great friends.
marty and i experienced a lot of firsts together as young men with some of these firsts coming as highs and others as lows but all important in their own way. we learned from each other and the wrong steps we sometimes made were just a little bit easier because we had each other around.
marty was an exceptional athlete and naturally gifted when it came to basketball and made everyone on the court better by just being around. i learned a lot from him when playing with him and was often in awe of his skill on the floor.
marty was also gifted in the looks dept. as well and i used to love when issy's would tell me about marty coming to visit her at the UBC hospital, when she was working there, and he'd stroll into her office after being at the gym and her secretary's would always mention to her how much they liked it when marty would come to visit.
through the years marty and i moved in and out of each other's lives mainly because marty was at UBC and moved a few times between vancouver and price rupert before finally settling back here for good and eventually becoming the shop teacher at van tech. i'd visit him from time to time at high school to see what he was up to, other times marty would come by whatever fx shop i was working at and we'd load him up with scrap metal and bits and pieces of this and that to give to his students.
as the years went on we saw less of each other but had the kind of relationship that would pick-up at whatever point we had left off the last time we saw each other. i liked that about us. with marty working full time as a shop teacher and me in film it made our time together less and less but we would talk via e.mail or on the phone and if there was a gathering at his place i'd try and drop-by and see who i recognized from the 'old' days.
marty finally found the love of his life a few years ago, helen, and after dating a while made the leap and married her - i took issy as my date to his wedding. and not long after that, well long enough, marty and helen had a little boy, david.
marty was a great friend and an even better brother, son and husband. i knew him well and was proud to call him a friend.
marty died friday after a battle with cancer and will be sadly missed by all who knew him. and while we did drift apart, i feel a void already knowing that i can't just phone him, or e.mail him or drop by his school and just say hello. just because.
today as i drove from richmond to vancouver on my way to another lawn, issy told me the news. at first i didn't process it or what it meant but as i made my way down 41st ave towards blenheim st. it began to sink in. and before i knew it i was having a bit of a meltdown and needed to just go and sit somewhere and just sit. be still and try and get my big boy pants back on, and as 'luck' would have it i was a block from tom and judy's place so i made my way to their carport. and just sat there. then after a while, knew that one of the reasons i cut grass is to zen out and just think and, sometimes, forget about everything and just mow. so i left the carport and headed over to bubbles and erin's and got down to business. and, for a bit, the world was back on its axis.
marty basso was a good man and i'll miss him. and while it's sad how, sometimes, this sort of thing has to happen to make us think of those around us, and how we feel about each other, i know how i feel about my friends and try, as best i can, to tell them how i feel, it happens and we can't ignore it nor should we. and if i haven't told you lately that i love you, i do. and if i haven't seen you for a while, please know that i think about you and wish i could see you more. i need to work on that. and if you have people in your life that you wish you could see more. call them. and even if you can't see them in person, tell them you were thinking of them, and that you love them. you'll feel better once you do.
wherever you are marty, thanks.
ok...i'm sorry for the rambling...

i love you.

g. xo