Mind how you go
My heart still hurts even though it’s been about six weeks since you died.
So many words left unspoken, so many laughs not shared, so many moments without you.
I’m so proud to say that you, Mr Tim Sale, were my friend.
The thing I will always remember is how kind you were. You had the ability to make the people around you feel special and you had the knack of making people feel welcome.
Because of you, my wonderful friend, I have made friendships that are destined to last, just like ours will even if it’s one-sided.
I have so many good and joyful memories of you.
The way you’d give me some serious side-eye and say “Wordnerd!”. I can even picture and hear you doing it in my head right now. The sadness I feel knowing you’ll never call my by my nickname again cracks my heart.
Like spending time with you in a Seattle hotel bar with a few other. You were inking an unpublished Batman page I’d bought and we were all just chatting, four of us holding down the corners to stop the page from curling up. There was so much ink being splashed around! I wondered (internally of course) if it was too much but you knew exactly what you were doing.
I so clearly remember eagerly ripping open the FedEX box that contained the Catwoman: When in Rome page had I bought from your then art dealer. So imagine my surprise and sheer joy when I discovered two pages in the box. Also in the box was a picture of white cat on a black background stalking along. We had talked about what page I should buy and I briefly mentioned how much I liked the cat but couldn’t afford it. But you remembered and you gave it to me.
Opening yet another FedEX box a little while after getting married to find the most incredible Bruce Wayne piece. I’d bought yet another unpublished page and the work you did inking it was unbelievable. Such an amazing wedding gift.
During my very first trip to both America and a comic book convention, sitting with you in a pub talking while you carefully and beautifully recreated my all-time favourite comic book panel of yours (“It’s not a toy” from The Long Halloween). We just talked while you worked, surrounded by friends.
That’s the kind of man you were.
If you’re lucky, there are one or two people who come into your life and them just being there makes it better. You don’t even need to spend heaps of time together, just enough to create memories and so that you can capture their voice and look in your memory. They are the people who make room for you in their heads. They give you room to exist and they see you. Tim was one of those people for me.
So, to my dear friend Tim… All I can say is that I will always miss you. There will forever be a tiny piece of my heart that’s cracked because you are no long here.
I love you and I was lucky, so very lucky, to call you friend.
