Happy Transplanniversary to the Love of my Life.

Today marks the three year anniversary of Greg's double lung transplant. Three years since the doctors told him that he may not live passed October. For those of you who may not know him, let me assure you that the world would be a far less brilliant place if he were no longer a part of it.

I met Greg (right) through John (left) when John & I dated on and off for three years. After my final break up with John, Greg said "Just because you guys aren't dating anymore doesn't mean we can't still hang out." So we did. And we never stopped.

Original Greg.

Greg is rarely happier than when he has a beer in his hand and friends around him.  I dare say people who know Greg are rarely happier than when they are around Greg and his beer.

Original Greg.

His pomp was a force to be reckon with back in the day. A few of his loves include music (punk, rockabilly, alt country...), classic trucks, worn jeans, old Chucks, times at his cabin, things made of wood, stylized art, and hot women in plaid shirts.

Original Greg. (One of my very faves.)

He spent time apprenticing at a tattoo shop pre-surgery. While he still designs tattoos for people occasionally, he was "instructed" by medical staff to not engage in any activities that would increase his chance for infection after the transplant.  This, sadly, included tattooing. He now is an upcoming Creative at Apple and spends a good deal of his free time doing graphic art projects for local bands and working towards his dream of being a comic book artist.

Original Greg.

I always thought he would have fit in well in the '50s. He reminded me of a young Johnny Cash without the flare for melodrama and cocaine.

Original Greg.

Sometimes it is easy to forget how thin he used to be when his CF was catching up to him. He always wore it well, though. He has an uncompromising sense of style.

Original Greg.

Our music trivia team name was 'The Furry Fury', due to Greg's impossibly hairy ass.  He maintains that it is the source of all of his super-powers, but I am more apt to believe his music trivia dominance had more to do with his expansive music taste and stunning album collection. Then again, his ass hair still terrifies me.

Original Greg.

Greg and his best friend Nate at the Pirate Party two months before his double lung transplant.  Every year, his brother holds a Pirate Party CF Fundraiser/ Greg's Birthday Bash at the Crown & Anchor pub.
We have raised over $20 000 for Cystic Fibrosis research.

Original Greg.

This is how we all knew Greg. He may have had a hospital bracelet on his wrist and an oxygen tank attached to his back, but he had a beer in his good hand and was the best looking bastard in the room.  It never felt right if he wasn't at the pub with us, laughing at something like it was the funniest fucking thing he'd ever heard.

Bobby said it best.

After his transplant July 1st 2008, he was a totally new man.

He was no longer the frail boy we had partied with.  And I began to see a new side of him. It didn't take long before the man emerged and things haven't been the same since.

Original Greg.

While he is a huge comic book nerd, his favourite superhero is Wolverine, and let's be honest- he does a mean Logan.

A poster I made of Greg when he went as Wolverine for Hallowe'en.. Those claws are real, by the way. They are hanging in Greg's office and they scare the shit out of me. How he got away with bringing those into work with him that day is beyond me.

Greg has country blood in him, and you can see it any time he is near a fire. This was taken at the cabin that his family had leased since he was a baby, and there has been a hole in his heart ever since the government called in the leases to expand the coal mine in the area and they destroyed it. But he loved that cabin. And it loved him.

So, Anonymous Donor, I just want to say thank you.  While your family may never know the extent of what you have done for us, we are forever grateful.  While the life you had known is now over, so is the life of exhaustion, suffocation, pain, and constant fear of death that Greg struggled with before your generous gift allowed you both to live anew... 

All events, all experiences, have as their purpose the creating of opportunity. 

Events and experiences are opportunities. 

Nothing more, nothing less. 

It is what we think of them, do about them, be in response to them, that gives them meaning.