The Professor

It was an utter shock.  It always is when you hear of someone passing away.  No matter if they suffered a long illness or if it was a sudden event.  Disbelief is always first.  The reality, when it does finally come, always hits hard. The loss.

I'd never met Thom in person.  But, that's not a prerequisite for feeling a grave loss.  He was a member of my small, intimate on-line writing group.  He was the professor.  Not only a Professor of Psychology    in the same state system I graduated from, but also a fellow to all of us writers.

He had a fatherly presence.  Modest, insightful and wise.  But with a playful nonjudgmental side too. Unless it came to cheating, which he didn't tolerate.  Because he was a man of integrity and fortitude.  Navigating through life with a disability,  but never allowing it to disable him.

I always wanted to be in his class, sitting at a desk soaking up his wisdom and life experiences. It wasn't until his untimely passing that I realized,  I'd been a student of his all along.  Watching and learning from his example.

Rest in peace Professor Brown.