I wanted to get the ball rolling with some stories of Russ - I hope you will include your own on this site. 

Russ was a great friend when I really needed one. We knew each other when I was about 27 and he just past 30. After he moved to Saskatchewan, we lost touch until one day when we ran into each other, almost 20 years later. We immediately poured our hearts out to one another and began our on and off love affair for the next five years. 

I won't write to much about his love of music and his talent for guitar - i hope some one who knows music better will write about that. He was a great musician. 

I want to talk about his humor, his strong energy, his presence and yes, his addictions. 

Russ made me laugh so hard sometimes - one of his greatest pleasures was getting someone to laugh so hard they spit beer out their nose. This meant he got you not only to laugh but caught you off guard too. He had such a great sense of humor - my daughter and I remember these voices he would do - one was called 'street cat' as he had heard about a organization that took in pets of homeless people while they were on the street so they would not lose their beloved pets. A very fine organization and Russ had a voice for the cats that was hilarious and he gave voice to those pets in a way that cracked us up but was honest and respectful - maybe you had to be there. :) We spent so many hours laughing together. 

He had a great presence - he was such a handsome man. I'm sure his many girlfriends would agree, Russ was attractive. I sometimes called him Mr. handsome hair - what man has hair like that at 58? He was tall and strong and even though the addiction messed him up, he was always attractive to women. As we talked and told stories, he kept bringing up names of old girlfriends - I asked him once to name all his past girlfirends and I think we made a very long list. I was not he only one to see his beautiful soul and try and love him into shape. Russ was naturally athletic and could throw a ball and ride his bike faster and longer than i could - even in his later years. He would be pleased to see this picture I think - i took this picture of him in my living room when we were first together 5 years back. 

Russ was an incredibly hard worker. Yes he could spend days in bed - hungover or drinking - but when he worked - he really worked. Everywhere I look around my house it reminds me of Russ. He built a bathroom for me, paved a 60 foot driveway plus sidewalk and patio out of paving stones BY HIMSELF in about two weeks, built me garden boxes and installed water barrels around my house and so much more. I was always amazed by his strength and stamina. We talked in the later days of his strong 'life force'.  He worked like a demon even up till the last month or two of life - laying stone and being a mason is very physically hard work but he did it. 

I don't want to say everything was great and rosy. He was hard to live with and he was self destructive. His addictions started early and he never really pulled himself out of it for good. It is such a difficult thing to say but he was an addict pretty much all his adult life. He did have periods of sobriety and he did work the twelve step program with sincerity. I have his big book that is marked and highlighted and well read. He let me see his notebook with his step one which details his drug and alcohol history and its honest, insightful and unfortunately very long. He struggled and and died of his disease. But he was more than his disease too. 

He was a sweet, brave, loving, scared, beautiful soul who I loved very much. 

His memory is a complicated blessing to me.

He was a great friend when I most needed him.

I will miss him so much.

May he rest in peace. 

love kathy