About a year ago I
was a raging alcoholic and wasted a lot of my running in circles and going to
the bottle shop. Yet somehow I did manage to make some really remarkable stuff
like this Octopus coffee table. (Up for sale too $1800.) Well, come the 21st
of January I’ll have been sober for one year. About the only thing that gets me
going these days is a big fish or project like this.
The whole thing is made out of wood. I even
carved out the legs. I remember painting this while drinking cheap whisky and trying
to focus on what bump I was painting. Wow it’s a wonder I got it done at all. Actually
I finish the last half when I was going thru withdraws. Oh I wasn’t as bad as
they show in the movies. Ya I had the shakes and couldn’t sleep and a few other
issues. What got me to through it and gave me the motivation to stick with it
was Todd.
Todd was one of my
first drinking buddies when I moved to town. I fell right into a bunch of
locals that liked to party in the bars as much as in the woods & river as I
did. Made me feel excepted and at home. Oh sure there was a bit of hazing but that’s
to be expected with my kind of people. We use to go down to the lake all
summer. We had a permanent camp set up with our very own rope swing unlike any
other around. We had some great times back then. Todd camped in the back of his
truck and I kept a tent on the other side of the bay with the other tents. I
remember leaving notes back and forth and making beer runs on Sunday all the
way up to Missouri. Priorities ya know. Todd helped me fit in just fine.
Todd died of liver
failure almost year ago now. I happened fast. Fast enough to scare the shit out
of me. One minute he was saying “see ya Tuesday”. The next “I’m going to be sick for a while” then
to “They are giving me six months know”. Two days after his six month pink slip
he slipped into a comma and then Todd was gone.
I was lucky to get hang out with Todd again.
His beautiful redheaded bartending side kick Lisa got me coming back into town.
Oh man did I try to get her attention. For about six months I just kept popping
into Chelsea’s trying my hardest. “Help a brother out” I would say to Todd. “Good
luck with that” was his standard reply. I figured at least I got to catch up
with Todd and the gang while checking out Lisa. HA! It’s been the better part
of two years that Lisa and I have been dating. How do like them apples? Well I
do. The six months finally paid off. Well she just broke down and took pity on
me really. 
We miss our friend. Todd
was Lisa’s best friend. When you see that it can happen to you, what it does to
others around you, when it’s sickness says “six months and I’ll be dead” it
gives you the mental boost to defeat that sickness. In a way Todd losing his
life gave me a new one. I finish the
Octopus table when I was in a tough place. It gave my life purpose and reward. I
used it to get my mind off things and back on art. It represented all the unfinished
things in my life because of my dependence on alcohol. When it was done and the praise came in I knew
I could keep going in this new direction. I knew it was time to be an artist
again.
The Todd.
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