Quent

We've been through so much together. You are my best friend. You were my first love. Sappy but true.

I spent a lot of time with you during some of the most formative years of my life and you had an enormous effect on who I am now. You shaped my politics and ideals in ways that will always guide my decisions. If I hadn't known you I might not have become a leftist. If I hadn't been moved toward progressive and radical politics, I might never have been drawn to the Texas Civil Rights Project. If I hadn't interned there, I might have never gone to law school. And of course in law school, with my politics and your influence, I joined the National Lawyers Guild. And here I am in San Francisco, working for the National Lawyers Guild. You are a part of my life. Like a brother, or maybe more like a sister since we share so much.

You were my first long term relationship, and my last until I met Johnny. For four years we were together (off and on). Remember Boston, Mexico, West Texas, New Mexico? Remember Gary Graham? Remember asthma and the early morning trip to the emergency room? Remember the lunch you would make me with carrots and cottage cheese? Remember the hours spent at Little City with our laptops? Remember walking across the UT campus holding hands and kissing outside of my microbiology class? Remember the first time you really got drunk and started telling people on the street about the next protest? Remember the time in Houston with your dad and Jake the dog? How about riding mountain bikes in Ruidoso or jogging around town lake? The hundreds of nights we slept in the same bed and held each other?

My hand is below the water still grasping yours but I can feel you slipping away now.