Ben Pollock, thank you for that sweet column. I remembered the story — Ned, in good clothes, helping someone out of the mud using his new chain and pick-up, but didn’t remember it was you and don’t remember having read the story. I may have — memory around that period is spotty for me. But I can tell you that just now reading it, I loved it, was touched that you felt about him and us as you did (also slightly amused; I SO don’t see myself as intimidating to anyone or anything, but there it is — we always compare our insides to others outsides and the reverse, so how can we possibly know how we appear to others?) . And I am a little teary. I love my life now, I love my partner, I’ve had a sweet, sweet Vermont-is-heaven-earth kind of day… and side by side with all that, how I miss Ned and how much I loved him. I even dreamed about him (for the 6 thousandth time) again last night. So, your words and remembering made me teary. THANK YOU.