in memory of Mike

[truepenny]

elisem has a post about Mike and the Minneapolis Public Library, and the soon-to-be John M. Ford Memorial Endowment Fund, which is so fitting and beautiful that I'm crying again, and I hate crying while I type.

I am finding that most of my memories of Mike are gestalt memories rather than specific memories: the instantly recognizable intonation of the "ANYway ..." he used to signal he'd finished a digression and was coming back to the topic ostensibly under discussion; the way he'd appear periodically at Elise's table in the dealer's room, just to check in with her; Ask Dr. Mike, complete with white coat and microphone; and, most germane to this, I've got a beautiful clear image of Mike in a Minneapolis bookstore, patiently trawling the shelves, bulky coat, bag, ponytail, eyebrows, and all.

I only got to go bookstore trawling with him once, but I've got that memory. And I love having it, and I love him for having been Mike.

And I hate crying while I type.

Comments

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

The bulky coat. With his elbows pinched in tight against his sides.

Ahh.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

The phrase that's coming up in my head in Mike's voice is, "Well, you know," not in the imprecise way a lot of people use it but as a signal that something both very erudite and very very silly was about to come out of his mouth.

Yesterday driving elisem home from the library, I accidentally made a mistake she said he used to rant to her about drivers making. We dubbed it the John M. Ford Memorial Traffic Error, and laughed sadly.

This is hard.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Me too, crying type, hate it.

[pameladean]

I was cutting up green beans for supper last night, and suddenly I heard him say, "What? Cooking? In THIS house?"

This is awful. Only of course it would be so much worse to forget.

P.