-The first thing he ever told us as his students “As your history teacher I can tell you two things for certain. Your parents have had sex at LEAST once, and you will, without fail, die some day” -Three piece suits -Rose oil -Mrs Meyers Lemongrass dish soap -Leather polish -An echoing “Hullooo” every time I walked into the house -Sunday morning Gospel -Sitting on the kitchen floor talking -3 am conversations -Playing me his guitar while I sat on his bed -Singing everywhere he went -Muttering to himself under his breath -Audiobooks and radio shows -The magic of libraries  -Movie nights with King Shing -Driving from Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti in the worst blizzard of the year at night in his little blue truck, just to get King Shing -loud laughs -long rants -long hugs -A single whispered “Hey babe, how ya doin’?” could get you sobbing on a day you thought you had your shit together. And all of a sudden he has your guard down and everything you thought you were handling comes rushing out and he listens....and he listens... and through it all, you realize he somehow already knew what you couldn’t notice on your own. Then with all the love in the world he told you exactly what you needed to hear. Maybe not what you wanted to hear, but at least he’d be clever about it.  - 1.5 hour long lectures on Canadian history in an Irish accent -The history of America via The History of Baseball -Crying at his desk -Memorizing the MLA handbook cover to cover -Letting me fall asleep on the floor during a film because he knew I was emotionally and physically exhausted -Long walks through graveyards -Contra dancing, he was so enthusiastic, trying to keep up with the pace of a dance he didn’t know, I was so small and he was so tall, my feet barely touched the floor.  -Old Black Rum being belted down the hallways -A Victrola playing during exams -Photos of Lily, his younger self, photos of students, and art given to him -Brass ducks -The Dapper Gentleman’s Ball -Walbridge Fridays, so many students showing up to school dressed to the nines.  -Leather jackets -Lumberjack pajamas and slippers -White linen shirts -Forensics competitions -”Sludge” coffee brewed twice mixed with hot cocoa powder -His maddening need to wait until the first guest showed up to take a shower and get ready for a party -Sitting on the porch swing across from him sitting on the hammock -Chain smoking, ripping the filters off -Guidance through every complicated life situation I’ve had in the last 12 years -Chasing the night, long drives at night, music loud, with the windows down  -Yard sales, estate sales, and resale shops -His shit is definitely cooler than your shit (that WAS the goal) -His shit is also likely to be older than you and everything you own, and even more likely, restored by himself to look even more bad ass -Coney Islands -Dominoes pizza -Flirting with every single waitress, cashier, and passer-by  -Hiding his anxiety with charisma and charm -God damn was he charming, and dear god did he know it -He made you feel like you had his whole attention, and for some reason that’s what we all wanted. With such a fascinating man, who loved such eccentricity, who made everything somehow look cool, how could you not want to make him proud? There are so many things that I can’t even put here. Conversations that don’t need to be shared. Special moments that only I can treasure. I know there’s more and I’ll keep adding. I don’t want this list to ever stop growing.  Miss you. Love you forever.

I can't believe that I'm living in a world without him in it. Breathing is so hard, I almost have to think about it. In. Out. Repeat. I wish I could say I was surprised. We had talked about life and death and the infinite struggle to choose to keep living. The thought that crossed my mind this afternoon was that "He finally answered the question he'd been asking himself his whole life." The answer was that he could keep fighting until last night. He gave in. And the reality I live in today has a firm line between now and yesterday. That was a different world, and whatever reality I'm in today cannot possibly at all relate to the life I lived knowing he was here. There is a vacant space where the most glorious man I have ever known used to stand. The man that filled that space radiated the deepest love you could feel in your soul, but he couldn't feel it himself. He had the most magical mind that I had hoped to share with more of the world. My humans needed to meet this man, they need to know that such a spectacular person could not just exist, but could make the people around him strive to do and be better. To witness the splendor of wit, humor, and creative flair that was Walbridge. I wanted them to meet the man that saved my life. That shaped me as a person. The one person who taught me that I was worth loving. This man was my teacher. My coach. My mentor. My father figure. My dear loved one. Thank you so much for the fourteen years I got to spend with you. Miss you. Love you forever.

😍

My brain still says; maybe he's just not that in to you.