June 7th is my nephew's birthday. He passed away on 12/26/20. Normally, his birthday kicks my ass. We grew up together. Being only 9 months apart, we were more like brothers than anything.
Last year was one of those days, and nobody knew it. I may have shared parts of the story before because it's one that shaped who I am today, but that day a fellow community member reached out to me.
We'd been talking in VC for a few days talking about life, history, Web3, everything. Just a great fking guy. Funny, thoughtful, and capable of having deep conversations about almost anything. Since my nephew's passing, I've met a lot of incredible people in this space. Some conversations came at exactly the right time when I needed them most.
I'm not ashamed to say it, but Web3 has helped me tremendously with the void that was left behind.
Without me ever telling him how I was feeling,
@beanugz sent me this.
To many people it might not seem like much, but to me it meant everything. As someone who loves deeply and tries to show up for others, I cherished the gesture for exactly what it was: kindness with no expectations attached.
It's been over a year now, and I still hold this Smoker Spirit Kabu. I've never even considered selling it.
The community at
@kabuxyz has always been one of my favorites, and moments like this are exactly why.
This space isn't just about the NFTs, the charts, or the flips.