I ended up at a meeting by chance last week and there learned of the death of some good friends. It is funny how these things impact you. It made me think about the last time I saw them or talked with them. I was closer to some than others, of course. I haven’t kept in touch as much as I should have, I admit, but we had a pretty good relationship for the most part.
I think I will miss B.W. Piper the most. We don’t see each other often—only once a year—but we are certainly part of each other. He was in my class just last week. B.W. showed up in his old straw hat to talk to my students about his role in an innovative little research company called Rat Bastard, Inc. He is doing great work to protect the province of Alberta from rats moving in from next door.
In January and February, I spent 7 weeks with Jack and Sue and I will certainly miss them as well. It was great to have them share their experiences of building a farm with my Farm Structures class. My students were always amused when they would disagree with each other and debate decisions they had made. Jack was not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he never backed down from a challenge and Sue was ever patient with Jack. I guess it is a good thing they left together; I can’t imagine either of them alone.
I will even miss uncle Bob (not really my uncle). Though he has often been described as the typical luddite boss, I always appreciated conversations with Bob; he reminded me that, although progress marches on, not everyone falls into lock step. He demonstrated that the further up the ladder you are the easier it is to pretend you are marching, or to just not give a rip and stand at the side watching everyone go by.
I can’t say I am surprised at the passing of these friends, I have known for a while that this could happen, but to lose all of them at once, well, I will miss them. I know that losing them means that there is an opportunity for me to start new friendships, to build new working relationships and to broaden my circle, but there is so much work involved to make that happen. A relationship doesn’t materialize on its own, and I don’t know if I have the energy to start all over again.
I am sure that my feelings right now are charged with emotion, and perhaps when I have a chance to process this, I will feel better. But the fact remains, we all lost friends in that meeting last week, and I ask that you take a moment with me now to remember the fallen, a moment of silence for good friends who are no longer with me:
CADD 100 - Computer Aided Drafting and Design
LGIS 130 – Digital Land Graphics
MECH 269 – Farm Structures
HORT 170 – Turf Graphics
LGIS 230 – 3D CAD
LGIS 430 – Software Customization, and
LGIS 250 – Remote Sensing
I think I will miss B.W. Piper the most. We don’t see each other often—only once a year—but we are certainly part of each other. He was in my class just last week. B.W. showed up in his old straw hat to talk to my students about his role in an innovative little research company called Rat Bastard, Inc. He is doing great work to protect the province of Alberta from rats moving in from next door.
In January and February, I spent 7 weeks with Jack and Sue and I will certainly miss them as well. It was great to have them share their experiences of building a farm with my Farm Structures class. My students were always amused when they would disagree with each other and debate decisions they had made. Jack was not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he never backed down from a challenge and Sue was ever patient with Jack. I guess it is a good thing they left together; I can’t imagine either of them alone.
I will even miss uncle Bob (not really my uncle). Though he has often been described as the typical luddite boss, I always appreciated conversations with Bob; he reminded me that, although progress marches on, not everyone falls into lock step. He demonstrated that the further up the ladder you are the easier it is to pretend you are marching, or to just not give a rip and stand at the side watching everyone go by.
I can’t say I am surprised at the passing of these friends, I have known for a while that this could happen, but to lose all of them at once, well, I will miss them. I know that losing them means that there is an opportunity for me to start new friendships, to build new working relationships and to broaden my circle, but there is so much work involved to make that happen. A relationship doesn’t materialize on its own, and I don’t know if I have the energy to start all over again.
I am sure that my feelings right now are charged with emotion, and perhaps when I have a chance to process this, I will feel better. But the fact remains, we all lost friends in that meeting last week, and I ask that you take a moment with me now to remember the fallen, a moment of silence for good friends who are no longer with me:
CADD 100 - Computer Aided Drafting and Design
LGIS 130 – Digital Land Graphics
MECH 269 – Farm Structures
HORT 170 – Turf Graphics
LGIS 230 – 3D CAD
LGIS 430 – Software Customization, and
LGIS 250 – Remote Sensing
I will miss all of you and the character that lived inside each one. I hope I find the strength to build new friendships or find a way to revive some of you. If we can’t meet again, thanks for making my life richer and improving the lives of thousands of my students.
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