Dear Gumby

Well, here we are again. It's that horrid day of the year. Every day for the past six years I've been reliving the pain of the first year. I don't go to the bar to visit you anymore though. It's just too much. I think this year marks the year you've been gone longer than I knew you. Heh. I bet 13 years ago you would've LOVED the idea that I would think about you at least once a day from then on. Oh, you would've been such a pain with that thought. I wouldn't have believed you at all either. Funny how shit works out, isn't it?

This year I find myself waiting for a check from the state treasury's bureau of unclaimed property. The state claims I had checks issued to me from a life insurance company about 16 days after you died. I never got (more likely I simply didn't open them), or cashed them, so the amount they were written for is sitting in the treasury department. I will probably never know why exactly they were written. In any case, I'm thanking you. I wish I would have thanked you more often when you were here.