He was my dear friend. The first time I met him was at my first Getaway. We rode back from the Getaway in the back of Sinsull's van, and while he was here in Maine, I took him to the park I work at. He immediately fell in love with the place, and on every subsequent visit, I would take him back. On a later trip, he mentioned something about taking photos and I told him I didn't have a digital camera. A week or so later, UPS pulled up and delivered two boxes from Amazon. In them was a digital camera and all the gear to go with, along with a card saying "Always expect a gnome to do the unexpected". I shared many photos with him, and on his grand tour of North America, he bought himself a new DSLR camera and gifted me with the old one, along with a 300 zoom lens. I think that was the same trip where we took him with us to visit J-boy's parents and they took us out on Little Sebago Lake and we saw loons up close. I also set up the spotting scope for him at the park so he could see our osprey up close and personal. He was like a little kid, he was so excited.

He was there for me in the hard times, too. Writing a poem for our dog Clancy when he died, calling me after my father died, checking on me if he hadn't heard from me for a while. And it hurts like hell right now to lose him, I am so glad he was in my life.