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Happy Birthday Kim Romocki!

I had lost track of my good friends Kim and Pete Romocki several years ago. They moved to Rochester and then the address that I had for them stopped working and I just sort of laid back and hoped that I would hear from them again when they got settled. Apparently they lost my address too and I was pleasantly surprised when I recently got an email from Pete telling me that they were preparing a surprise birthday party for Kim and he was looking up a lot of her old friends to contribute to the birthday book. Sadly, I got this news just before taking off for a conference out of state and was slow in getting the photos and questions that they were looking for into the mail. Now, in a last ditch effort to squeeze in under the birthday deadline looming this Monday, I'm creating this web page to celebrate Kim's 40th birthday!

I don't remember the exact date I met Kim. Our band was playing at the Poorhouse in Oswego and she was out partying with a bunch of her friends. She was completely looney and totally gorgeous, it was a combination that I couldn't resist. I'm not sure just when I took this photo of Kim, but I suspect it may have been the first one I ever shot of her.

I also have no clue who the guy was (but I get the feeling that he may have liked her too.)

A great memory I have of Kim...

I have lots of great Kim memories, but since they mostly happened about 15 years ago, I'm a little fuzzy on a lot of the play-by-play details. The overriding thing I remember is that nobody was more fun than Kim. She has a wonderful sense of humor and an accute sense of the absurd. We laughed and laughed and always had a good time. I remember lots of fun hanging out and shooting pool with her friends. I also remember that we had a fascination for graveyards and used to drive around the countryside visiting them.

The one thing that we didn't do as much as we probably should have was talk seriously. It was just a little too easy having fun. We dated a bunch of times and I was very much taken with Kim, but I couldn't really get a read on how she felt about me. When we finally did talk, I discovered that she had been seeing a prior boyfriend before (and while) we were going out.Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it was Pete, one of her friends that we had been hanging out with quite a bit. I was stunned. I kept thinking how it must have been so hard for him to watch us in the first throes of that lovey-dovey euphoria that overtakes you when you meet someone. God, we must have been obnoxious! I don't know how he could stand being around us as a couple when he was so truly and surely in love with her. Never once had he tried to compete with me or make me feel anything less than a welcome part of the circle.

That knowledge effected me profoundly. I was so totally impressed that he loved her so much that he could give her the space to be herself and see what she really wanted.That he could be supportive of her finding herself even if it meant the risk of losing her. Of course, I could never look at Kim quite the same way after that. I felt so unworthy. At that time, I don't know if I was even sure that I could love anyone enough to give them that kind of unselfish devotion.Knowing that she already had someone so completely devoted to her made me feel kind of insubstantial and inadequate Looking back, I don't think that Pete ever stood a chance of losing Kim. In the years since, I've tried to be as supportive and caring as Pete was in my subsequent relationships. He's quite a role model.

When my romance with Kim morphed into friendship I gained a lot too. Pete and I became good friends and we began to have some great times as well. I used to try to get over and visit them often when they still lived in Syracuse. They used to have some amazing parties. Kim's imagination always brought something extra to the mix.

Here's another photo of Pete and Kim hanging out in the kitchen of my old apartment on Graves Street in Syracuse.

News from me in 1997

I don't know if I have much news. I've been gainfully employed as the Computer Guru at the Liverpool Public Library for almost 10 years now. I really enjoy the job and the people that I work with. To supplement my income I do computer consulting and some free lance writing. I occasionally perform with my singing partner, Mike Allinger. He and I worked for several years with his brother Chris in a trio called "Freeze Frame" playing mostly weddings, parties and stuff.

That's me on the left; singing, playing keyboards, and my Tupperware™ electronic drum kit. Now Mike and I do more of a low key folkie acoustic thing. He also performs a lot solo and sometimes with our pals Tom Loredo and/or Josh Pincus.

Not that I don't keep busy in other ways. I'm very involved with the national acoustic music community. I host a couple of music-related listservs on the net. Folk_music and FolkBiz. Just this month I finally opened my own music focused WWW site at http://www.folkmusic.org

I also keep a personal home page at my work site http://www.alanrowoth.com/ where I have all kinds of links to music, movies, travel stuff, Magic collectible cards, and other stuff, as well as online photo albums and my annual Christmas letter.

All I have to say about you turning 40 is

You go girl! You have a wonderful family, good friends, and a great life. Enjoy it. Live it to the fullest and give your kids the same kind of warmth, self confidence, and love of life that make you such a joy to be around. With parents like you and Pete, I'm sure that they are going to have great lives too!

I'm so glad to be back in touch with you and Pete and I look forward to our next get-together. I hope to see you soon..

xo,

Alan

P.S. As a treat for wading all the way thru this, I'll give you one more shot of Kim and Pete. This was takne with my Nimslo 3-D camera and didn't scan all that well, but I'll send the original along in care of Mary and John so that you guys can get the full effect.

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