Wall of Fame
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April 12, 2025
Greetings Earthlings!!
I read the essay on the dearly departed Nikko in the New Year’s Eve edition of Glitter Chicken.
It made me smile as it made me reflect. I knew Nikko and came to admire her. I won’t pretend that I knew her well, but well enough to know that she had a soul.
Her person and I once talked about the way a car represents freedom to a young person. Nikko came along at a certain point in her life, but she stayed around through a lot of growth, a lot of changes. She was a constant companion. She didn’t judge or criticize. She quietly said, “where next?” She was down for adventure and up for a challenge and she could keep a secret. Watching them together was reminiscent of Roy Rogers and Trigger, or maybe Dale Evans and whatever her horse’s name was (https://horseyhooves.com/dale-evans-horse-buttermilk/).
Not long into our friendship, I shared with Nikko’s person a song I love, an early tune by Sade called “Maureen.” (https://lyricsmeanings.com/sade-maureen). The song is about losing her childhood friend. She mentions “shining like a new car in a go-cart world,” so without paying close attention, I always thought it represented the sense of loss we feel when we part with that one special car that was there for us through thick and thin. I hope you, Dear Reader, can relate.
MY friend probably paid closer attention to the lyrics than I did and realized they weren’t about a car at all. But she politely seemed to enjoy it as I played it because it is quite catchy.
I played it for her long before Nikko left, as I had no idea that one day Nikko wouldn’t be waiting in her parking space. I was simply trying to convey that I knew Nikko was more than four tires and a windshield. She was kindred and kinfolk.
My friend has new wheels to take her to new destinations and make new memories and enjoy new heights. I will be happy to hear more about all the adventures they will have together.
I think the author of the essay explained the relationship between our cars and our hearts - our imaginations and our realities - a doorway to where we’ve been and where we’re going.
Whether it’s Sade or Jonathan Richman playing along as you travel, the journey is sometimes more important than the destination. My cars have taken me to meaningful places to be with people who meant a lot to me. Some still do. But I was always grateful to the trusted friend who took me to those places and home again.
I’m not empowered to speak on my friend’s behalf. In my effort to find commonality, I determined that we were both lucky enough to have trusted companions in our lives, in our driveways, when we needed them most. In honor of her Nikko (and my Bessie) I bid all of you “happy travels” to the farthest shores and the prettiest sunrises and sunsets. Aloha and adieu.
-Bernie Bennett (Annapolis, MD)
March 23, 2020
I read some of the most recent entries, and was fascinated by each one . . . the depth of research, the weaving of historical narratives, and mise en scène. I look forward to seeing new entries again as a signal that some normalcy has returned to this world.
-James Kodi (New York, NY)
Oct. 3, 2019
LOVED your blog post about the Annapolis Sailing School. Terrific history, right-on character descriptions, and well-chosen anecdotes.
-Sarah and Ed (Odenton, MD)
May 1, 2018
-Bill Benson (Virginia Beach, VA)
December 11, 2017
Space And Time
Ghost of a long lost friend,
If only in long-winded pretend,
No,not antisocial,just disquietingly
unusual,
Memories,a friend again,
Taps me on the shoulder of my pretend,
Frees me from space and time,
Just like the glistening rain soaked streets,
The glistening rain soaked streets,
And the wind listening to my complaints,
Hell fainted, Hell fainted,
Something that I want to,
Something I hold onto,
Everything related,
And nothing, as I'm reminded has faded
Ghost of a long lost friend.
-Lazarus Denovich (Philadelphia, PA)
