It’s with a heavy heart that I write this.
On Friday night Jeff Simpson, a proud progressive and longtime contributor to Blogging Blue, lost his fight against cancer. Though Jeff and I didn’t always see eye to eye (as is sometimes the case with strong personalities) I always respected his tenacity, strength, and dedication to what he believed in. Jeff was a proud public servant, but more importantly he was a dedicated and loving father and husband.
Jeff will be sorely missed by many and I’ll have his family and friends in my thoughts and prayers.
Jeff Simpson was a legend in the progressive blogosphere, and he will be dearly missed. Jeff always had a very strong opinion about whatever subject he was writing about, and that is how I will remember him.
Rest in peace Jeff. You were one of a kind, brother.
Bit by bit… it comes over us that we shall never again hear the laughter of our friend, that this one garden is forever locked against us. And at that moment begins our true mourning, which, though it may not be rending, is yet a little bitter. For nothing, in truth, can replace that companion. Old friends cannot be created out of hand. Nothing can match the treasure of common memories, of trials endured together, of quarrels and reconciliations and generous emotions. It is idle, having planted an acorn in the morning, to expect that afternoon to sit in the shade of the oak.
So life goes on. For years we plant the seed, we feel ourselves rich; and then come other years when time does its work and our plantation is made sparse and thin. One by one, our comrades slip away, deprive us of their shade.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry