“Ladies and gentlemen!\u00a0 Light your cigars!”<\/p>\n
An unusual way to begin a “toast”… but we should expect nothing less.\u00a0 After all, it’s Clayton Burrows who we are about to honor.<\/p>\n
Too bad he is not with us.\u00a0 Too bad he can’t see the assembled faithful… the faces, the smiles, the broad laughs and suppressed tears.\u00a0 Well… he would have been shy about it… rolling his eyes and walking off in a huff away from the attention.\u00a0 We gather outside the Dry Dock Saloon (an alternate location from Ash creek for me)… a firm rain just finished.<\/p>\n
It could have been snowing a blizzard, a total eclipse, a nuclear blast… nothing could have prevented Brad, Red, Lee or James (and many other folks whose names I don’t know, or have forgotten) from igniting a Macanudo to Clayton’s memory.<\/p>\n
We return to the safety of the bar… to our whisky’s, beers and jell-o shots.\u00a0 And stories.\u00a0 And more stories.\u00a0 That’s why we are there. For the stories that we share about Clayton.\u00a0 One story following the next… each one capturing a “slice” of Clayton.\u00a0 Each story producing a burst of laughter and a nod of acknowledgement.\u00a0 “Oh, yeah!\u00a0 That was pure Clayton!”<\/p>\n
James moves around the bar and the high-tops… exchanging words and lifting a glass.<\/p>\n
I am there as much for James as I am for Clayton.\u00a0 That’s the way it is.\u00a0 We mourn for the deceased.\u00a0 We mourn more<\/em> for the living.<\/p>\n Maybe Brad put it best to me… “For years James was Clayton’s guardian angel… now it’s Clayton’s turn to be the guardian angel for James.”<\/p>\n I like it.<\/p>\n I also like what my son Zack wrote to me about his memory of Clayton:<\/p>\n “Sorry to hear about Clayton.\u00a0 I once gave you the Hunter Thompson line that best describes him: ‘One of God’s own prototypes.\u00a0 A high powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production.\u00a0 Too weird to live, and too rare to die.’<\/em><\/p>\n “I think a good legacy for him is that he reminded me of what’s great about being human.\u00a0 So many types, so many stripes in this world, you never know who might touch in some way.\u00a0 Every day is a new day that could be filled with those kind of moments.\u00a0 I guess.\u00a0 You just need to keep your eyes open.”<\/em><\/p>\n I’m keeping my eyes open.<\/p>\n Here’s to you Clayton.\u00a0 Here’s to you James.\u00a0 And here’s to present company and absent friends.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Ladies and gentlemen!\u00a0 Light your cigars!” An unusual way to begin a “toast”… but we should expect nothing less.\u00a0 After all, it’s Clayton Burrows who we are about to honor. Too bad he is not with us.\u00a0 Too bad he … Continue reading