To Richard, Who Lived His Life With Open Arms

 

Over many years I had a friend who was wonderfully exuberant when discussing his next enterprise, and whose eccentric sense of the normal chimed so often with my own.

I met him through one of those “ Opportunities” which are actually the doorway to chaos:  forming a franchise business  offering website construction  for the non-technical which was spectacularly unsuccessful, largely because we had no idea what we were doing. Despite that  we managed to  form a deep and continuing  friendship: laughing at our lives which we were both failing to manage. 

He was protected by a private income while I was not, but we both agreed that facing  life with defiance and a decent beer was a workable strategy. He had that quality of courage and celebration which brings a sense of the party to every day. Armed with style, a well-ironed shirt and a decent pint he touched the lives of many around him: together we drank from chaos and, when sober, shook our heads at life’s vagaries.

I have never met a man with whom I was more or less in tune: given a tin of caviar and a list of friends he might invite to consume it, he made the best of any moment with more bravado than anyone I’ve ever met. There was a wonderful lack of personal drama about him, shown as he approached death, which will always make me hold him close to my heart till I shuffle off to some bar near Heavenwood where  I am sure I will find him, entertaining the bewildered angels with a range of “useful”  tips on managing eternity.

Well-dressed and stylish to a fault, he seldom engaged with the everyday yet had a  lack of self-importance which charmed me without fail. 

Each day I live I shall raise a glass to him.  To Richard, “I loved your life and how you lived it and you will  never be forgotten while I have strength to breathe. In my imagination you became what you always dreamed of being: a business guru!”