VT, In Memoriam

VT was a hell of a guy. Nice. Kind. Thoughtful. A good guy. CT and her husband VT moved to town the summer after I did. That winter, about five months after they arrived, I needed a ride to the airport to get home for the holidays. I hadn't seen my family in more than a year, and I was really looking forward to spending Christmas with them. CT was going to see her family, but VT wasn't able to join her. He volunteered to take me to the airport. What unfolded was a long, drawn-out drama. We had an ice storm, and the airport shut down. The day of my flight I hadn't thought of calling ahead since the rain wasn't supposed to freeze until after my flight left. Big duh--my flight had been canceled. It was the holidays and the airport was packed. I told VT to just drop me off and not to wait. He told me if I ran into problems to call him and he'd come back to get me. He didn't have a cell phone, so when I saw my flight was canceled all I could do was to leave a message on their answering machine telling him what happened. The earliest flight I could get was two days away. I knew the roads would start freezing soon, and I didn't want him driving on the roads so I reserved a hotel room (before they were filled with other stranded travelers). I figured if he was able to get back to the airport I could cancel the room.

When he got home he called and said he was on his way. It took him two and a half hours to drive 70 miles due to the weather and another two and a half hours for us to get back to town--all due to the weather. I bought him dinner at one of his favorite places, Chilli's.

Two days later we left for the airport four hours before I needed to be there (so six hours before my flight left). It took us two hours, the roads were still that bad. I asked him to come into the airport with me just in case my flight was canceled again. I had called ahead and everything was on schedule and fine, but I was a bit paranoid. But when we got to the airport no short term parking was available so I told him to just drop me off. What were the chances my flight would be canceled again? Turns out, pretty good. My flight had been canceled and after a long song and dance, I ended up canceling the entire trip and spending the night in a hotel. I didn't want VT to drive back on those same crappy roads. The next morning--Christmas morning,--VT picked me up at the airport and took me home.

I had known VT and CT for less than six months, but he was more than willing to drive 280 miles times two just to get me home for the holidays. He told me that if he couldn't be with his family, he wanted to make sure someone could.

This was just one of the things he and CT did for me over the last four years. He took me to the doctor when I had bronchitis and was too sick and exhausted to drive. He and CT watched my cats (and I watched theirs). They brought me loads of comfort food after my dad died. He always offered to help when I needed it.

Frenchie emailed me yesterday with bad news. VT had passed away. I won't go into the details of why or how because they aren't important right now. Our friend CT, her loss, the loss of VT's family... that's what is important.

It's hard to know what to say to anyone or about anyone when this happens. But my heart goes out to his friends and his family. The world has lost a good person.