I’m sitting here alone in the shop late this Labor Day Monday reminiscing and thanking my lucky stars that I knew a man named Brooks Brown. He died Friday and to say that I owe him dearly for being able to sit here right now is an understatement.
Brooks was the founder of WEQX radio and to make a very long story very short, he is responsible for me moving to Vermont back in 1990. He and I had a lot in common: messy desks, a love for golf, marriages to cool people, and crazy ideas we were just crazy enough to tell people about — and some of them we were even crazy enough to try. One of his was to start a radio station and one of mine was to open up a bra shop.
He “got” the bra shop idea right from my very first conversation with him about it earlier this year. I remember him saying, “Go for it!” with a really wide smile. For him to think I had a good idea and that I was actually capable of doing it right gave me a confidence I can’t explain.
This bra shop brought Brooks and my relationship to a whole different level. Throughout the years, I’ve kind of explained him as being like an Uncle to me – he and his wife Mimi always welcomed me for dinner, they loved me no matter what, and he would be right over helping me program the VCR or whatever. That is really simplifying things, but I can’t go into all of it right now. Some of you know what I’m trying to say.
Since the bra shop though, our conversations were different. More equal. More big picture. More BIG in general. More real. It’s like I finally got what he’s been preaching forever. In a nutshell, bullshit is bullshit.
He never came to the shop. Not once. That means a lot to me.
Rest in peace, Brooksie, and thank you from the bottom of my soul.
