One Year.

For many of you reading this post you know what today is already.

One year ago today a friend, father, visionary, profound human being, and founder of BME Shannon Larratt passed away. Writing this one year later the idea of Shannon’s passing hasn’t fully set in for me or many of the people who were lucky enough to know him. It is hard not to say what has already been said about a man that changed so many lives. Many people, myself included, never got the opportunity to have a personal relationship with Shannon for one reason or another, however he was someone who impacted my life more than he could have ever known.  All over my social media today it is apparent how profoundly loved and appreciated he is.

I will keep this post short and sweet as it is a tough day for many folks. I will however make a motion to spend today thinking about how Shannon and BME have impacted your life. Whether it be directly or indirectly, where would you be without Shannon or BME? Today should be a day of appreciation and memories, I encourage all of you who read this in passing to share in the comments a bit about the effect he had on you. 

We have all probably read and re-read Shannon’s final post on his Zentastic blog, I leave you with a very small excerpt.

“As much as these last years have been the most difficult I can imagine, and there are still many deeds to be done, please know that I have had a wonderful adventure and enjoyed it immensely on the whole.”

While that isn’t the most striking part of his entire entry, the words “There are still many deeds to be done.” strike me as particularly important. What Shannon started didn’t leave with him. We are all still here continuing his fantastic legacy and building off the foundation he has given us. I never in a million years thought I would have the opportunity to carry the torch for ModBlog and carry the legacy of BME onwards. I am eternally grateful and  I wholeheartedly say thank you Shannon, and thank you to everyone who continues to make BME what it is today.

shannonlarratt

“Don’t call it a comeback. I’ve been here for years.”

I am pleased to announce that I will be coming back to Modblog as a full time contributor in the very near future.

I was motivated to do so by the recent Stay Calm event in Philly. That weekend truly renewed my passion for this community and, apparently, I was not alone in that feeling. Since then, I have seen a huge resurgence of BME events and interest. There have been talks of a big BME Fest reunion, several smaller events have already been planned, Shawn Porter has started writing for Modblog again and overall this community of ours has really started to come back together. We are no longer purely reminiscing over the good old days, we are beginning to move forward as well.

DSCN0063Me and the infamous Todd Bertrang at Stay Calm.

Shannon’s death was felt by our entire community a community which he, moreso than anyone else, brought together. In honor of our fallen friend I say we do our best to keep this site of his, and the community which it spawned, going well into the future. So please submit images, stories and videos to  [email protected]. Or, if you prefer, you can submit stuff directly to Modblog on the Facebook fan page I created by tagging it as the Modblog page, posting to the page’s wall, messaging me through that account or emailing me at [email protected]

Keep on keeping on, my friends.