Colin’s dad passed away two nights ago.

http://notices.nzherald.co.nz/../
obituary.aspx?n=malcolm-robert-nicholls..

I’ve only referred to my father-in-law as “M” in these posts before.  He very much liked that — both for the 007 association and other, more obscure, reasons. 

Now it’s time to say his name out loud and realize that he is gone.

Malcolm enjoyed reading this blog.  I didn’t completely understand why he read it, although I was grateful to have such a devoted fan. There were times when I would not have written here, except that he tended to worry about me when I didn’t post. 

He did like that the blog was often about my enjoyment of “rolling one’s own” solution to a problem, no matter what the problem was.  If you’ve read C’s blog you may understand that Malcolm and I had that trait in common, along with some odd music, odder books, silly word play, and a very high level of attention to detail.  This last characteristic struck some people as useful and others as alarming or tedious or exasperating, but we couldn’t help it, no matter what you thought about it. 

It’s how we were made, and it’s how we made things.

I don’t expect he cared much for the subject matter here at TechSpoken, but he told me he liked the way I explain stuff.  Probably that was because we shared a somewhat odd sense of humor, our squirrelly minds free-associating and flitting around from thought-twig to thought-twig. 

We both liked to circle our way around an explanation, exploring some side paths, enjoying the detours, feeling enriched by the whole journey, before a resolution appeared, sometimes as an off-hand afterthought.  When I think about him looking back over the story of his life, I imagine him remembering the whole of it, all that way.

I want to say: Thank you, Malcolm, for sharing your special brand of fun, your unique way of communicating, and a small slice of your broad interests, with me.  Thank you for so quickly welcoming me into your family at the beginning, and for being so loving with me all the way through to the end.  Thank you for sharing your wonderful son with me.

I am not going to feel much like posting after this entry, maybe for quite a while.  I expect Malcolm would understand, and not worry. I hope you won’t, either.