Friday, November 04, 2005

Remembering My Friend Eric

It's been a busy week here, so I haven't blogged regularly. I've been hitting my other deadlines, though. The big deadline was uploading the Diamond Previews' order for items shipping in December. That catalog is massive and more confusing than ever, but it's our one tool to show off all the upcoming comics, graphic novels, toys, statues, and "other cool stuff" to everyone who comes into Flying Colors.

Jammed with more than 4000 items on 500+ pages, we are more than happy to advance order any items from Previews for you. Please ask us about it next time you're in the store. Another deadline come and gone was getting my next column ready for Comics & Games Retailer magazine.

Honestly, having that deadline every month for the last seven years gives me renewed appreciation for what all writers go through to get their work to market. I've often been told I should write a book about comics' retailing, but every day I feel like I've learned more, but know less. Maybe I should just write a book about my experiences in comics. Lots of stories there...

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Yesterday was November 3. Fifty years ago yesterday, one of my closest childhood friends was born.

We lost him much too soon when he was killed in a car wreck in the summer of '98. Eric and I met at the wee small age of two when his family moved in next door to my childhood home in Moraga CA.

We were close friends from then on. We played on the same Little League baseball teams (King's Nursery and Cracker Barrel Delicatessen, to name a couple) in the old Lafayette Youth Association (before it became the Lafayette/Moraga Youth Association).

We didn't go to the same schools until junior high since I attended Santa Maria parochial school in Orinda for six years while Eric was at Rheem Elementary in Moraga.

Eric was six months older than I, so he was always one year ahead in school. But even when his family moved across town, we still found the time to get together.

Eric was a big comics' fan, too. He was very quiet about it, though. He was the first person I remember who bought comics through the mail from early dealers like Robert Bell and Howard Rogofsky. When I spent the night at Eric's, we'd stay up until all hours drawing and reading comics--- and we were often joined by Eric's brothers, Mark and Paul (Eric was in the middle), and by Eric's dad, who was also my family doctor. We had a wonderful childhood and our friendship stayed strong through high school, girlfriends, college, careers, marriages and our own kids.

I still think of my friend often, I still miss him and will never forget how blessed I've been to call him my friend. Peace! Joe

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, Joe,
Eric Homrighausen's wife, Judy, was my best friend during the time we lived on the same block in Sunnyvale (Charles Avenue). And Eric was one of those special guys--the husband of a friend that I liked a lot. Most of the time, friends' husbands are OK, but no special.
Anyway, Jonathan and I have recently re-connected, and he told me about your blog posting on Eric. I liked what you had to say about your memories of Eric.
Thanks, April (flowersapril1@hotmail.com)

Aunt Balloon said...

I was heartened to see your and April's mentions of Eric; there is so little of him online, not even an obituary, as though he had never been with us.

FlyCoJoe said...

Thank you, Aunt Balloon!
If you would like to see more about Eric with photos, I have posted several times on his birthday my Facebook page.
Search here:https://www.facebook.com/flycojoe/

He is always with us as long as we remember him!

Cheryl Sanford said...

I knew Judy when we lived in Sunnyvale from 1991-1993. We would walk down through the park after dropping our older children off at school (Ponderosa ES) pushing our little ones in their strollers. Then we would stand on the corner and talk and talk before each heading home. I lost touch with Judy after moving to Virginia. I was so sad several years back when I learned of Judy's and Eric's untimely deaths. Judy had made two teddy bears for my girls which I still have. I think of her every time I see them.

Joe "FlyCoJoe" Field said...

Thank you for adding your remembrance of Judy to this, Cheryl. She was a special person!