Today is my birthday. I've had some memorable ones, but the photo above, which I took 45 years ago, on April 4, 1980, will always remind me of the best one.
I sent this photo to my girlfriends back in Seattle in late March, 2006, about two months after Mark and I reunited (after over 21 years apart). Here is some of what I told them:
He says it's the best photo ever taken of him. Of course he was 38 in this photo and I kid him about looking like a rock star in this one! Turn the hair white/gray and add more wrinkles and you pretty much have how he looks now. He still has the same smile and smile lines. ...
I thought you might want to see part of what attracted me to him in the first place. It was never looks though, I was attracted more by the fact that he admired my mind, we could have intelligent conversations, and he was very loving and attentive. Still is all of the above. ...I forgot to add that when I look at him now, what I SEE is the guy on the boat I fell in love with 26 years ago.
And to Mark: "...the photo is what I see when I look at you even today...an incredibly sexy man."
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Mark and I went out on Corpus Christi Bay in his sailboat, The Wagon, on April 4, 1980, along with his best friends Tom Utter (who co-owned the sailboat) and Sarah Cole. It was a Friday (just like it is this year) and I'm pretty sure it was after work.
Now I'm the only one left. In a week, I will be in Corpus Christi on a sailboat, to place his ashes in the Bay he loved so much. The next day, some family and friends will gather in his honor and he'll pick up the tab one last time:
The invitation above is based on a card Mark must have carried in his wallet for a long time. I think Tom ("Utterly") and Sarah ("Cold") must have made it for him. It's based on the logo for Cooper's Alley, a restaurant and bar where many city employees would hang out after work, and where Mark was often known to pick up the tab (or at least buy a round) for the entire table. (I don't remember ever having to pay for a drink there.)
If any of Mark's old friends are reading this on or before April 12, 2025 - it's not too late! Just come - don't worry about an RSVP.
