Dear Community, I'm up late tonight, writing to you because I can't sleep. My heart is in deep pain over the loss of my dear friend and office mate, Chris Willemin. He was 36 yrs young when he was in a tragic car accident Mexico and passed Sunday, June 5th. His parent are coming to comfort all of us in San Diego and to help us mourn him and to celebrate him... He was an amazing person, a fierce humanitarian, and a member of many things, including the EcoHub. We are still a baby in the raising world of coworking spaces and we think we've learned a lot from this forum of facility owners and members, however nothing could have prepared me as a co-founder to get the call that he passed and then relay it to the membership. I also cannot find words to express how much I loved Chris because he was so close to me and family. I know this is a sad story in a sea of loses across the country, however I believe the greatest value of this dicussion forum is the topics posted be real people with real problem and offering advice. My adivce is to seize the day and cherish your office mates.
I am cherishing him reflecting on this goodbye from another friend who clled him Bandit: *Bandit, You will always be Bandit to me. The man who stole all our hearts and left joy, enthusiasm, hope and being in their places. Thank you for being a teacher and role model. Thank you for showing me how to live a life of deep joy. I love you brother. I love you and that smile of yours. I love your craziness. I love your fearlessness and I plan on taking some of that from your legacy as well. I love you Chris. I will never grow tired of saying that. Thank you for blessing me w/ your life.* I also want to share a short story about my relationship with Chris and how he came to love coworking. I met him maybe 5 yrs ago when my wife and his girlfriend worked together for the United Way. He was in the field of solar sales for Borego and I loved talking shop, food, beer, camping, whatever --- you name it --- with him. Over the years as the economy turned bad, I knew he might be in trouble, and sure enough one day his company laid off a huge amount of people. I called him to be a comfort and risked asking --- Chris, I believe that Jesus is Lord and prayer works... Can I pray for you? He said yes and we id this a few times. So one night shortly after that happened, we were at a Greendrinks and we bumped into each other at the bar. He told me he was being hired with new solar company with an amazing backer and an amazing location on the 101 hwy in Solana beach. We rejoiced then, but it didn't last more than a two years when the company went under due to poor decisions. But, man --- I'm telling you --- the look he had in his eye --- that determination to start his own thing... I'll never foregt it and I'll never forget the day I asked him to join the EcoHub. It was such a pure moment of joy for me because I want to share the determination of an entire community with him. The first day he stepped in, he loved it, and gathered his team from Engineers Without Borders to meet and strategize into the night at EcoHub. We was now a fixture, one of us. Now, we're remembering him and I'm missing him dearly. My heart hurts writing this too you all. His seat is empty, his work is incomplete, however he is at rest in a better place. Thank you for allowing me to share m story, EcoHub's pain, and this topic as I could not find a similar keyword. I would also like to ask all of who read this to go to our facebook page and leave a few kind words for our membership: http://www.facebook.com/EcoHub And lastly... On May 30th at 3:04pm, Chris made this last post on his Facebook page: "Where to start.. 6 days in Cabo with 3 good buddies. I feel lucky to have made it through... in la paz now figuring out how to cross the sea of cortez to start the train ride to copper canyon." Here's a joyful video to watch and remember our coworker. Please feel free to comment. http://youtu.be/uhvhEJfmfBk I'm not sure if anything other than prayer and time can cool my burning eyes from the tears I've shed, however I feel safe with all of you who've found true value in coworking... creating meaningful relationships. PS Connect with me on linked in ( http://www.linkedin.com/pub/yeves-perez/5/3b0/94) if you're visiting SoCal and need a place to work or if you want to take a coworking tour/ vacation or should I say... coworcation. LOL -- Sincerely green, Yeves R. Perez Co-Founder, EcoHub, Inc. CEO, EINI, Inc. 4542 Ruffner Street, Suite 170 San Diego, CA 92111 f. http://facebook.com/ecohub tw. http://twitter.com/ecohubinc t. 1-888-277-6304 lc. http://loosecubes.com/workspace/99 yt. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxWYIlVKa4E w. http://ecohubinc.com/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
