My world, and the world of many others whose lives have been enhanced by her presence in their world, was changed on the day Marsha was born, August 3rd.
It was my world that was changed the most dramatically, but I would not know it for a long while, for too many years, until we met.
I knew she could change the world as I felt and saw and experienced it, the first time I saw her. It would take some time before I would see her again, because other people did not let her know I thought of her. And they would not let me know that she thought of me.
I almost missed meeting her again. I almost did not go where she was. I had told someone else I would go someplace other, and realized I had forgotten a previous promise.
She was where I had promised to go, with the person who never told her I thought of her, and asked about her over that period of time. I would not let her go this time, off into the Manhattan night, down into the subway station, until I had her phone number. She wrote it on the back of an orange colored business card I had.
I carry it in my wallet to this day.
She had such enthusiasm for life. She embraced others warmly. She had a passion for Art and honesty and justice and family and sex, and held nothing back, with no game-playing shenanigans.
It was like Christmas morning became every start of a new day. Marsha was a gift of loving and a smile that reached her eyes and was meant just for you.
She is a present of life.
Life scintillating with her smile.
You can lose your way at any period in your life, and forget why you stood and fought and took the wounds that scarred your spirit, and threatened to steal everything important.
You can lose your way but for that smile, her life, her eyes and heart and heat giving you life.
That is the gift Marsha has.
She can bring you back to reason you did it all in the first place, bring you back to when you couldn't even define why you did what you did, back when you only knew it was imperative to strive to do the best you had to give.
She takes that gift with her. On city streets with grey cement sidewalks and skyscrapers that dwarf the walkers. In fields stretching into daylight distances that would make you believe they had no end.
She has a singular voice, as bright as her smile.
That smile reaching her eyes says, I can survive the scars.
I can survive the betrayals, petty or large.
I can survive stories that died aborning, that no one might ever have a chance to read.
It is all there in the life of her smile.
And as the years progress from the day of your birth, you realize you will horde all the smiles you can, and you will need them to sustain you.
I believe Marsha knew I would be there when life would get tough, and it would be hard to smile.
I would still be there, beside her, dressed in lingerie, or in a hospital bed.
And would treasure her life, and the day she was born.
The hardcover edition of Detectives Inc. is still available. Continued sales on the series can help make the new Detectives Inc.: A Fear of Perverse Photos/A Repercussion of Violent Reprisal a reality. The hardcover edition of Detectives Inc. is still available. Continued sales on the series can help make the new Detectives Inc.: A Fear of Perverse Photos/A Repercussion of Violent Reprisal a reality. I'm not sure if IDW still has any volumes left of the hardcover, but you can buy it on Amazon.
The newly designed donmcgregor.com is up and running, and Gary and Dawn Guzzo have brought it up to date. I'm talking to Gary recently about having an update blog right there on that very page where I can Post and you can reply. Check us out!
You can find me on Facebook here . Of course, as many people know, I don't know nuthin' 'bout no Facebook. But you will find photos up there and I can read your comments there. It's kinda like group therapy, but it doesn't cost you anything.
Copyright © 2014 by Don McGregor