John is Gone

     2 years ago, a dear friend said I have to blog. To be honest, it was not big on my radar. It's not uncommon for me to put in 12 to 14 hour days and sometimes more. Working 2 weeks straight is not uncommon. So, blogging is one more obligation. Not easy. I started blogging and someone told me it should only be professional and about photography and not personal. There are a lot of rules out there that I don't quite get. And considering I'm not big into authority and following hard protocol, I pretty much do what I want and say what I want and let the preverbal hit where it hits.  I don't go out of my way to offend anyone. It's all good. Which brings me to today's blog. I have a friend by the  name of John Terraciano. And I called him around 9:30 this morning just to say hello. I received his voicemail and it seemed just a little strange. Something was not right. So, I called one of his close friends Hector Vazquez and left a message.  Hector called me back 20 minutes later to inform me that John passed away at midnight this morning. We got together at Christmas, he was as healthy as a horse, great smile, great personality, great wife, Miraim, and an extremely generous giving individual. I don't ever remember hearing the "no" word in his vocabulary. He was always there for you and never expected anything but a thank-you. He came to one of my openings and he brought a beautiful Christmas cactus, which I've always treasured.  Hey, John, I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to say goodbye. Damn, I'm gonna miss you. But who knows, maybe I'll see you on the other side sooner than anybody knows. I guess that's the way it works, huh? Here today, gone tomorrow. On a lighter note, it's my niece's birthday. So, Happy Birthday. Joe D signing off.