Barry Gates was a guy larger than life. If you needed a shirt, he'd pull his off and give it to you. If you had a problem, he'd listen...and on some occasions, and deciding if he knew you well enough to offer a suggestion, he'd give you a pearl of wisdom.
The world lost Barry this week. And that incident also almost claimed his almost ex-wife and a particular suiter, who's learned an important lesson about dating married/but seperated women.
(On a personal note, I learned that lesson at the end of a shotgun some 20 years ago).
Barry and his soon-to-be ex-wife had both done okay with the seperation (so we thought) and I almost thought they'd gotten thru this rough patch and were on the way to becoming friends who had once been married.
That picture was shattered in the morning air of Oct. 27th.
Noone but his wife truly knows what triggered the events that morning, but the aftermath of the raw emotions left Barry with few choices. He ultimately made one, and I, as well as his many, many friends, feel cheated with the one he chose.
I pray for his wife in this time. She, too, has to be a sea of emotions and questions, and I hope she gets it all sorted out and can arrive on the other side without any lasting emotional marks or scars.
And Barry, ride on, man. Ride on. You'll be very missed on this side, friend.
2 comments:
Hi, I dont know who wrote this; but my name is Denise Bass formly Denise Lanning.
What a beautiful and accurate blog about Barry.
He WILL be missed.
Denise,
I'm a local Lovettsville guy. Many of your neighbors know who I am.
Barry and I had a great relationship, as did his wife and I.
I CAN'T pick sides on this, and as a mature individual who has had to deal with a full range of emotions and often let them run me...I understand that sometimes we make bad choices. I've made 'em, you've made 'em...everybody has. We should all be glad that our personal choices haven't cost us our lives.
I will miss Barry. He was a beam of sunshine. He had something important and worthy to add to every conversation I ever had with him. My life is less blessed in his absence. And I wish him GodSpeed.
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