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February 11, 2005
Daniella in NJ
Memories of my friend
I met Mike Wolf at my first Big Apple Blogger Bash in January 2004, just over a year ago. I was fresh to the NYC area, homesick and lonely. I didn’t know any other bloggers besides my cousin Jenny in Boston who had been my inspiration for blogging. I had exactly eight readers… my parents, a couple of my friends from home and one other NYC blogger, Dahlia (thanks, Dahlia!). I heard about the party from Dahlia and, nervous as hell, feeling completely self-conscious, I went. I was received graciously and one of the first people I met was Mike. We chatted briefly and he made me laugh. I had to cut the night short because, being nervous about being older and less hip than the rest of the bloggers, I had double booked the evening so I would have an “out” if I was uncomfortable.
A couple of weeks later, I had exchanged some emails back and forth with another blogger, Ken Goldstein, I invited him over for drinks and we had a great time. He blogged about it and about an hour after he published it, I got an email from Mike.
“What, I don’t get invited to hang out with you?” his email asked in his typical tongue-in-cheek manner. So, I invited him over for drinks and dinner. It was only after we had made firm plans that it occurred to me that we lived on the third floor without an elevator. That was the thing with Mike… you forgot about the wheelchair the minute he opened his mouth. It was non-issue to him, so it became a non-issue to anyone who knew him. We made plans to go out to dinner instead.
It was a blast. Mike came over early and we had drinks at a bar near my house waiting for John and Ken to arrive. We just melded so perfectly and the words just tumbled out of both of us. Our friendship was effortless.
Over the last year, Mike and I have had many adventures together. There was that crazy semi-coherent Ethiopian dinner in March when he couldn’t finish his dinner and without thinking I told him that “you better eat that, there are children starving in Ethiopia!” We both dissolved into giggles to the alarm of the other patrons and our waitress. Or the night he spent three hours redesigning my website and I kept trying to hurry him up and we laughed and laughed. Or that time I managed to scam our way into the private room at the Russian Vodka Room by speaking convoluted Russian to the hostess. Or the time he got us front row seats to the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at Joe’s Pub. He joked that “being a crip has to have some advantages.” Mike never ever played the pity game. That was not who he was at all.
I guess the defining thing about my relationship with Mike was the laughter. We made each other laugh. I teased him about being a hipster and a music geek (he was both) and he teased me about being a fashionista and being anal retentive (I’m both). I loved him and I will always love him.
He brought a whole lot to this world and touched everyone he came into contact with in some way. This world is not as bright a place without his wit, his passion and his light.
Originally posted at Daniella's Misadventures but is also featured here with Daniella's blessing.
Posted at February 11, 2005 05:40 PM
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