a well lived and inspiring life!

I just got back from Todd Mack's celebration of life and I'm feeling quite inspired. The service was filled with stories by people in Todd's life; his beloved husband, Gino, close cousin, closest friend, employee/mentee and a dear mentee as well as a handful of quick stories from the attendees. It was sad and funny and heart wrenching and heart filling. It's apparent Todd had a well lived life with many beautiful humans to share along the way.

Earlier in the week, Gino called and we spoke for a bit. I thought he was calling to talk with me about my previous blog post but turns out, he hadn't read it or even knew about it until I mentioned it. Instead, he called to ask that I come to the service and to tell me Todd really admired me and my work. He made sure I knew I was one of three makers he called. I was so touched and honored Gino personally reached out, it really means so much to me. 

We chatted for a while, we laughed, we cried, we shared. I had initially planned to just pop in, give my condolences and leave. However, when Todd's grieving husband personally calls, I'm gonna show up. I'm so thankful I did. There were a lot of overlapping themes of endless creativity, fun loving personality, music, traveler, nature lover, collector, endless honesty, tough love and finding the beauty in the mundane. Many of which we bonded over. There were slideshows of Todd's life, his beautiful artwork and a keepsake card with words of wisdom with a vintage skeleton key from Todd's collection. The space was beautiful, the lighting perfect, the flowers classic and stunning. On display were works of Todd's, gorgeous collages, posters of previous art shows, personal pictures and momentos, including very real and sobering hundreds of empty insulin viles and several years of hospital bracelets. A good reminder that while Todd was a huge, confident presence, there was also a human who was suffering from chronicle illnesses. It was beautiful and tragic, much like life.

The celebration was at Artifact Events and it was packed. There were 200 chairs, all filled and many people standing in the back. It was inspiring to see so many gather and share memories of one person. I think most of us never take the time to consider all the people we touch in our lives and what an impact we make in our communities. We see so many of the same people daily that are background characters not realizing a kind word or act can effect them in profound ways. Todd's memorial reminded me that you never really know all the lives you've touched. I'll be forever grateful for the connection Todd and I shared. He really was like the older brother I always wanted to impress. Even in his passing, he keeps inspiring me.