Shocked and Stunned, RIP my dear friend Scott

This morning I awoke to the shocking news that my good friend Scott had suffered a massive stroke late last night and underwent surgery. A few hours later I heard from reliable sources that he had not survived and was gone.

I'm going to try and explain just what Scott meant to me in my life, and of course these words will be inadequate to fully convey this. I have not yet lost someone that has been this dear to me and I am still processing this, so please bear with me.

At various times in my life he was a social director, a co-writer of songs, a boyfriend, a sounding board, a rock I could lean on, but most of all a friend I could always count on for love and support.

I first met Scott in the early 1980s when I was just starting to hang out in the small Seattle punk rock scene. My friend Diane introduced me to him, and he quickly became a good friend, introducing me to people and inviting me to parties. Some of my fondest memories of this time include:

• Chicken fighting on his shoulders with Diane and Kurt Kendall from Girl Trouble at the Tropicana in Olympia
• Driving around endlessly in my 1978 white Toyota Corolla, looking for parties that Scott didn't exactly know where the address was, but was sure that the house was in this area, somewhere...
• Scott for a time always had a bottle of Peppermint Schnapps with him wherever he'd go...
• The way that he would open beer bottles with the buckle on his green leather jacket, to impress girls...
  
• Going to parties and watching Scott load up the pockets of his coat with a few extra beers, so he always had some, even after the beer ran out
• How for a time, he referred to himself as "Ride" because he was "along for the ride..."
  
• Kissing for the first time at a party where Nisqually Delta Podunk Nightmare was playing, and getting amused, knowing glances from our friends who were there (who had suspected that we were attracted to one another)
  
• Writing songs together with titles like "Satan's Constipated Again" and "Sid's Sins" which was actually a pretty good song that Doll Squad ended up playing
• Scott standing in front at every Doll Squad show yelling something like "show us your tits" or something equally classy that would make me laugh
• Watching "Headbangers Ball" late at night when we would get home after a show and alternately laughing at, and enjoying the videos on that show
• Missing a Redd Kross show at the Central Tavern because I had just gotten back from a trip, and he had missed me and so we, well, spent a lot of time together, fell asleep, and then showed up when the show was completely over
• Watching The Rutles video so many times that we could recite it by heart (Scott would understand and laugh at the title I chose for this blog)
  

Scott and I were a couple for about three years from 1986 to 1989. We were friends for about three years prior to being together, and remained friends after we broke up until the present. Throughout the years we've had times where we didn't see each other for a while, but then we'd always get back in touch and hang out when we could. We never lost the mutual respect and affection we had for each other, and could easily fall back into our familiar easiness with one another no matter how much time had lapsed.

I remember him being there for me at a time in 2001 when I was upset because a certain group of people who I thought were my friends turned on me - he was there to assure me that I was a good person and hadn't done anything to deserve that sort of treatment. He was a great friend to me when I went through a bad breakup of a five year relationship. He was also there the night that I became romantically involved with my wonderful boyfriend Rich, who he also ended up befriending. I cannot express enough how much his support has meant to me throughout the years.

Scott had this amazing ability to be a friend to everyone. Over the years, I came to appreciate his gift for putting people at ease and his ability to make everyone laugh. I would give anything to see his big smile again, and hear him laugh loudly. There are so many things that will remind me of him, and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to share so much of my life with such a warm and loving person.

Rest in peace my dear friend.