After a long battle with cancer, my friend, Michael V. Metzger, died around 3:00 AM last night with his daughter, Lauren, holding his hand. His very good friend, Jennifer, who spent the last twenty years as a huge part of his professional and personal life, wrote a touching tribute on Facebook about her loss:
With Lauren holding his hand, telling him stories about visiting New Orleans and the three of us hiking in Telluride, he passed quietly. Our hearts are broken. I already miss his very large presence in my life. Michael was many things to me for just short of 20 years. I will love him and hold him close to my heart forever. We are planning a celebration of his life and I will post on here the information and attend if you loved this incredible person.
Educated as an astrophysicist, Michael became a well-regarded photographer with a wide range of interests. He was easily one of the most interesting, fun-loving people I've ever known. One year, I invited every woman in the area that he'd slept with to join him for a birthday lunch. I think there were over twenty who came for the celebration. We had loads of laughs and a lot of fun. Plus, I don't think any of the ladies realized their shared experience. Even the woman he was seeing at the time.
Everyone called him Michael. The older we got and the longer I knew him, the more I called him Mike. It probably annoyed him. But then, he absolutely abhorred Obama and that annoyed me.
Coincidentally, this morning, a high school classmate posted this poem, Sonnet XLIII, by Edna St. Vincent Millay. The sadness and melancholy it evokes resonated with me, remembering the highs and lows of the more than fifty years that I knew him.
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