It was 8 years ago. There were so many messages on rbp back then.
Probably as many in a week as there are in a year now. And the most
prolific poster of all was Scott Bristow. I had never met him in
person, and yet I loved him like a brother. Trusted him so much I left
him the key to my house so he'd have a place to stay when he came to
paddle Great Falls of the Potomac on Thanksgiving Weekend 1998.

He stayed at my house, sure. He and Joe and Julie drove up from
Atlanta. I was having Thanksgiving with family in Virginia Beach. But
I was coming back on Saturday and we were all meeting for dinner that
evening. Not just me and Joe and Julie and Scott - but David and
Sheila and Matt and Rebecca and lots more. It was going to be a
rec.boats.paddle get together. And then I got the call.

It was 4 in the afternoon. I was running a nice hot bath in
anticipation of our night out. I almost didn't answer the phone. But
then, I was leading a club trip the next day and it might be a paddler.
So I got up and answered the phone. I still remember David' voice.

"We lost Scott at Great Falls today."

And with those words an era ended.

I don't think I've ever been so affected by loss - except for my baby
sister and my dad. It's still unfathomable to me how I still grive
for Scott, and now 8 years have passed.

We memorialized his passing for a while by paddling the GW Canal loop
because that's what a bunch of us (including newborn Rowan Chapelle -
just 2 weeks up and bunting'ed up in a pfd) were doing as Scott
perished at Charlie's hole.

I wonder if anyone still paddles that loop in his memory. We'd always
do it the Saturday after Thanksgiving because that's what felt right,
rather than the 28th.

This year, on the 28th, I'll be landing for a business trip in Juneau,
Alaska. I've never been to Alaska and there's 45 inches of snow on the
ground right now and its dark. Never mind. I'll look for Scott in the
night sky - maybe he'll show in the Northern Lights.

I havern't had a cry like this in a good long time.