hold me all the time

Doug.

Dr. Douglas Martin, PhD in Urban Studies UCLA, founder and CEO of the Westside Center for Independent Living – CIL – the second in the state of California and almost surely the country. Polio victim at age six, the remainder of his life in a chair until he passed away in 2003. One of my all-time best friends. Not enough space here for the next month of weekdays to begin to explain why.

Twisted for sure. Incredibly lovable. Filled with courage. Bravery in all ten directions. Kind, generous, funny, irreverent. He’d be on Wilshire Blvd in West LA, I’d be on School Street in Somerville, MA, my phone on the kitchen wall would ring, I’d pick it up, and Doug would say this — “Bud. Thompson Twins.”

The entirety of our conversation. If someone should ask me this Monday what was my original face before my parents were born, I’d hold up a picture of Doug.