Losing a friend

Its funny how you meet friends, some you meet at school, some at work, some as just an acquaintance.
But I find the best friends come from areas where we have some common interest or hobby. Some of my best friends have even come from my car interests. I love Porsches.  I know what you are thinking
$150,000 cars, uppity sales people, snooty drivers. But that could be true in any car area now. Heck BMW, Audis and even VW have really high price cars now. You don't have to get a Lambo to get to over $100,000 MSRP. But that is not the point. Porsche's and Porsche people run the whole gamet the car range. From a $3,000 914 to a million dollar vintage Porsche race car, Porsche attracts all kinds of people. And one thing I have found out, alot of them are darn good people. Passionate people, not only about cars but life. I have kibitzed with the 914 race driver to the brand new 911 Turbo people. But I just met a person who started his car enthusiasm in the Acura NSX world. Now a days NSXs can be affordable as a used high performance car. Gary Simms started his car hobby with the Acura NSX I believe and started something he could really get into with his beloved wife. Now I met Gary later but I believe that he and his bride bought a used NSX and got into the Acura community. Gary and Cindy discovered car nuttery.  I think they had some issues with it and took it in to get fixed and this is where I am sketchy on this part of the story and somehow bought a new Porsche 911. I think it had something to do with his wife and continuing maintenance on the Acura but thats not the point. This man loved his wife and they found something to be passionate about that matched the level of passion they had for each other. I got to know Gary through many many emails and went through the passing of his wife with him. Gary was a deeply intelligent person with a passion for life that I have not seen in many years. We are both scientists and both worked in the Edwards AFB/Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake/NASA corridor out here in the Mojave desert. So we had a ton in common.

When I found out that he was getting the new Carrera S Convertible, I called him and asked him some questions because I was thinking the same thing. When he mentioned he had a new Panamera as a loaner I asked if he could come up and visit one day. He asked "How about right now?"  So two hours later (only because of a pit stop to relieve himself from all the coffee). This was last Nov. He got here
around 11AM he had lunch with us and we sat down and it seemed like 15 minutes but it was 4PM.
He was giving me pointers on how to run a small business getting contracts with the Department of Defense.  He told me about all the years of running a small business, but the recurring theme was how his wife kept him in line and helped run the business. It wasn't a story about his business it was a story
about his love for his wife and how everything he did was to thank God for sending him Cindy.

Now both of them were VERY passionate people, and one outlet they found to share that passion with each other was to spend time together at the race track enjoying their cars. They believed that they found a lifestyle that had the same amount of passion that they shared together, the Porsche lifestyle. At the track, at rallys where ever they were at with their 911 they found the same type of people who shared their passion for life and each other in the Porsche lifestyle. And they enjoyed the short time they had together like never before with people who had the same zest for life.

But as it is in all romantic stories it ended way too early with the passing of Cindy. The love of his life, the very meaning of his existence. He tried to carry on, he really did. Even though she was everything to him, he thought maybe this passion he found in Porsche would carry him through this most devastating time of his life, and he threw himself into it as much as he could, being a PCA driving instructor, teaching people about Porsche in the forums. As much as we talked about Porsche when we were together no conversation went very far without the mentioning of his wife. Not very far at all. He put on a brave face and was always quick to the smile. And quick to the keyboard when some Porsche person had a question about something he was expert in. Amassing 1500 posts in his 3 short years on the forum. He was such a good friend. He would NEVER short you in time when you asked a question, always giving a complete and full answer or picking up the phone if he wanted to be sure you understood the correct answer.

But no matter where we were or what we were doing Cindy's pictures were never far away. Always in his wallet, quick to come out when ever there was a question about her. The pictures were wearing out, he took them out so often. And so even a passionate person like Gary, can break with the source of his passion was gone. He tried as hard as anyone could given the circumstance to fill that huge void with another passion. But nothing could fill that void that Cindy left, not even a whole Porsche family, and legions of new Porsche people who paid hommage to Gary and his vast knowledge of Porsche. Those who read every post he made as if it was a instruction manual on how to become a member of the Porsche legion. So almost as if in a movie, he passed a day after the first Valentines day he had to spend without her, and we lost an irreplaceable friend.