Justin (Wisteria)

rubber, foam, copper wire

I used to leave to-do lists with goofy drawings for Justin every night for him to find in the morning. I was worried seeing the yellow piece of paper on his desk first thing would make him anxious, but he said he looked forward to them. He kept them all, sticking them onto a nail on his workbench. 

Justin found beauty in everything and was constantly saving bits and pieces rubber, plastic, and other seemingly odd materials to make sculptures. (You can see some of his more durable art on 6th Ave, outside of Mary Mart, and at the entrance to the Tacoma Police substation on S 72nd.)

Every once in awhile I would be too tired to leave a note, thinking skipping it every once in awhile wasn’t such a big deal. Going through the stack of lined note paper, still stacked right where he left it, made me wish I had never missed a day.

Dear Justin,

        You thought we’d be better off without you, but you were wrong.

                        xoxo,

                            Nichole