Remembering Sir Patrick Stewart
In 2005, I watched Sir Patrick Stewart perform from just ten meters away. I still remember his voice. Nothing is forever, and I’m reaching an age of saying goodbye to people I’ve loved. RIP, my captain and professor.
Today I heard that Sir Patrick Stewart had passed away. He was 86. I thought of London in December 2005, and a performance I had never planned to see.
After a work visit to Dundee, I was walking through London when I saw a poster for his one-man A Christmas Carol. The show began in an hour, and there was still a ticket. I found myself about ten meters from Captain Picard, listening to that voice in person. When I wrote about it in 2020, after rediscovering an old photograph, I called it the best performance of my life. It still is.
In 2020, his daily readings of Shakespeare’s sonnets comforted me through the pandemic. I was unfamiliar with English poetry, but I loved hearing his voice. It was the same voice I had been lucky enough to hear in that theater, reaching me again in a very different time.
Nothing is forever. I know that, but I am reaching an age when I have to keep saying goodbye to people and things I have loved. Each loss makes the years feel a little more real. I can still watch Picard or listen to a sonnet, and I am grateful for that. But today I keep thinking about being in that theater, that day, with him still there in front of me.
Rest in peace, my captain and professor. Thank you for that voice, and for the memories I will keep.
