As you all know, Mike was an extraordinary person. Never just "ordinary", he was EXTRAORDINARY. Sometimes I wondered if he was actually "extraterrestrial". He was born under the sign of Gemini, and I was never sure which Gemini twin was going to be around today. He loved adventures, and never realized that he was an adventure himself.
There were many sides to Mike. Like the blind man and the elephant, each person who knew him never really knew ALL of him. Not that he was mysterious; he was open with everyone, but they didn't know that his habit was to give each person what he sensed they needed - whether it was comfort or confidence or a new challenge. He enjoyed and sought out all sorts of people.
I knew the Mike who was sensitive and introspective, spiritual and even religious in his own way - and he was a loner. That's hard for some of you to understand because he was also such a "glad-hand-Charlie", happy and funny and delightful, a good friend, a buddy, an interesting and enjoyable guy.
I have a funny story to tell you about how innocent Mike could be. You may know that we went on a cruise last December ... We never even dreamed we would EVER go on a cruise, but we had such a great time! Anyway, we were in port somewhere in Mexico and he went out to get some pictures. (imagine that!) I cautioned him to be really careful because the cruise information mentioned that it was smart not to go too far away from the tourist area. Well, of course he DID because he had unlimited trust in people and had no fear or sense of caution. When he was ready to go back to the ship, he asked some lady how to get there and she gave him directions and said that he should go exactly that way and not go beyond a certain point. So, off he went and next thing he knew she was pulling his sleeve and telling him to turn right and go across the bridge, NOT go further down that particular street because he would not be safe. He called her his guardian angel. I think he must have been assigned several of those when he was born.
There was also an old man in Mexico who adopted Mike and guided him around one of the ports of call. I had told Mike to be less obvious taking pictures or he might get his camera stolen, or he could be arrested or beaten up for taking pictures of someone's girlfriend. I figured this old man was looking for a large tip from this innocent tourist, and of course that's what he got... a large tip... along with being charmed by this American.
Just as Mike's personality had many sides (the quiet side, the outgoing side, the innocent side), his life had many phases, with just one constant - his family - both his immediate family and his extended family - and also his golf family. He loved meeting new people and all of his life he sought new ideas and was a constant reader with a wide range of interests. He thought that every new thing that came along was serendipity.
When I first met Mike, I was enchanted. After being married almost 50 years, I am still in awe of him. I am glad that I got to accompany him through all those "interesting" years. We had a good time.
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