Gosh, thank you so much for the kind words, everybody. I'm truly honored to be remembered.
When dial-up modem was prevalent, Brady Behrman (the late Barry Behrman's son) said I should go on this Google pool group. Knowing I was a long-time pool enthusiast, he thought I'd enjoy the pool chatter. Well, it was like jumping in the deep end and not knowing how to swim, my introduction to social media. It was quite a different experience than how we interact today. We had dial-up modems back then, and if you did make a post, it might not appear for a half a day or more. Frustrating, to say the least.
It was the late Smorgassbored who suggested I join AzBilliards Discussion Forum 20 years ago, a whole nother social media experience, but this one had immediate gratification when posting, thanks to the advent of faster bandwidth. It was fun to be among pool peeps. Each and every time I posted, it felt like I was walking into the home of an old friend.
I still feel this way today. Even if I haven't posted in a while, when I do, it's like I'm hanging out in my neighborhood tavern with long-time buddies at the bar, sharing the news of the day and a few laughs along the way. AzBilliards represents a family of like-mind folks, and we each have our own area of interest, whether it's cues, tournament updates, pro pool observations, league play, stories from yesteryear, shooting fundamentals, and—gasp!—pool smut.
As we age, our circle of friends lessens. I'm older than Efren by a few months. It seems like someone I cherish in the pool community passes away on a daily basis. When I do meet my maker, I'm grateful that AzBilliards Discussion Forum will live on and provide a glimpse of some of my inner-most joys in life, and a part of that is being here with you all. Thank you for the memories. In the end, no one can ever take that away from us.
Only you could've cleared the skies over 'bad weather' like you have.