Certain Steps: Remembering Sean Thompson (1974-2024)

My final conversation with my dear friend, colleague, and The Recovery Project legend, Sean Thompson, centered on telling him about my upcoming walk across America. We said our goodbyes that day, February 22, his milestone 50th birthday. He passed unexpectedly and peacefully in his sleep four days later. In soul-stirring gratitude, the heartfelt exchange we shared was exactly the one I'd hope for had we both known what was to come. We each knew we were loved.

He was a big brother to me, and his presence is forever etched into the spirits of those who knew him and called him friend and blood. That presence still breathes, and so it will walk with me right into March 25--the first day of this journey across the country he called home--and beyond. The first passage of this adventure is dedicated to you, Sean. The following brief and personal reflection offers just a glimpse into the ocean your wave unites.

***

Big brother,

After two long weeks of grieving you and digging for something to say to fight against this reality, I’ve come to the realization that I don’t have words to demonstrate how this feels or how much you mean to me. There is merely the shape of the space you’ve left behind, and so I return to this passage from the Tao Te Ching I sent you five years ago, only now appreciating its true meaning:

“Though thirty spokes may form the wheel,

it is the hole within the hub

which gives the wheel utility.

It is not the clay the potter throws,

which gives the pot its usefulness,

but the space within the shape,

from which the pot is made.

Without a door, the room cannot be entered,

and without its windows it is dark.

Such is the utility of non-existence.”

Rest in Power, big brother, with some wind behind your sail.

- "Dub"