formerly phread: 25

For the month of November I’ve decided to post each day about a person or people who have influenced my life for good. There’s no way I could include each and every person in one month or even one year, and for that I hope you’ll forgive me. This year, especially, has brought an acute awareness of the kindness and generosity which surrounds me and my kids, so here’s one attempt at giving thanks.

25 - Richie

Meh.

Just kidding.

I don’t actually remember meeting Richie, I just … I think there was a time when I didn’t know him, but that was a long time ago. How’s that for specific?

I do, however, remember going to see him at a haunted house (I didn’t go inside, though) to talk about working together on a podcast. That was years ago, and for a long time I was involved a little bit, where I could be, but in the last year is when I’ve really been in a position where I can prioritize it like I’ve wanted to, and I’m glad because much of the best parts of my year have come from my associations and work with the podcast. I can’t tell you how many times this year I’ve thought about how grateful I am for that night at the haunted house all those years ago.

Richie and I have a lot in common, like siblings would. We’re both connectors, we both enjoy music and performing, we both sort of run sometimes. We also tease each other like siblings which is to say he teases me a ton and I just take it and roll my eyes and tell him he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Richie has been a really fantastic friend for a long time. He’s a friendly guy. He’s just nice. He knows how to be with people, which seems like something everyone would know, but they don’t, and Richard is fantastic at it. People are drawn to his charisma and charm.

He’s really good at his job. I mean…probably. I’m not an expert and I’m not his boss. But what I’ve seen, and the resulting product, tell that he’s great at what he does. I’ve also seen this with the podcast, he is a very busy guy and he gets it done. In fact, and I am not making this up, Ted Koppel said to him, “Well, thanks very much, Richard, and I genuinely enjoyed talking to you. You’re a very smart fella and I’m glad that my career is mostly behind me because I’d hate to have to compete against you.” (Maybe I cried when I heard that.)

Richie has taken my phone calls and messages and helped me out of some pretty stupid situations, whether with humor or sincerity or teasing—usually a combination of all three. I’m grateful for our chats, I’m grateful for his commitment to what’s important, and I’m even grateful for his teasing.

Thanks, Richard. I love you.

#IHaveAwesomeFriends

10 - Mark + Stephanie