Not to put too fine a point on it: I've not had my best day ever. But I'm getting ready to go on vacation for a few days, so that's good. Right?
Then I come home to find an email telling me that my high school boyfriend is dead. He committed suicide.
My husband only knows Tennyson LeMaster as the person from my stories, always described this way: "The best boyfriend I ever had, until I met you." Given the time span in between, that doesn't say a whole lot for my love life, I guess.
Tennyson and I turned back up in each other's lives over the years, but always when one of us was with someone else. I attended his wedding in Austin in the early 90's (he divorced a few years later...) I don't know that we would have ever made it together if we had tried...but man, I loved that guy. Still do.
Here he is playing with his latest band, Redlefty. He used to play with punk bands but this is a "swingin' blues" band. You can hear their music here and you can listen to a podcast interview with them here. Can't tell you how much it means to me to hear his voice.
I have 25-year-old pictures of him, of course; but they are of course not digital. He was the same cool guy then, but not bald. :) Last time we talked was a few years ago; he called me up out of the blue.
It was my turn to call him, next.