Our good friend, Riverwind, has finally announced his long anticipated retirement, and I thought this would be a good time to say a few words about this unique individual.

Though I have never had the pleasure of meeting him in person, he has been both my boss in the chatroom, one who usually agrees with me on my Political Message rantings, a friend when I needed it, a receipient of my bad jokes, and he has served as the butt of my personal attacks on his age, weight, senility or beard for many years now.

River could be described in two ways: He's old, way older than me, his beard makes him resemble the actor Grizzly Adams (Don Haggerty), slightly overweight and has an opinion on many topics...usually the cottect opinion as it agreed with mine:P

Another description of him would be what he has done for the chatroom. When we site ops had problems he was always there to help out or solve it for us. When we did something wrong, he found a polite way to tell us without anger or resentment. When we were overburdened with stress either from the chatroom or in our personal lives, he suffered right along with us to share our burdens.

When I first challenged the high god and the Eunuch Council many years ago because of my frequent postings of politically oriented threads, it was River who stood at my side. Remember, back in those days there was no Political Section on the Boards but I pushed for such a forum and with River's aid, we have one now.

When I was in trouble a second time because another long time site op and i were not getting along, River took the fall with me and were were both fired, if only for several days.

River always backed up his site operators to the hilt (when we were right) and has never demonstrated anything to us but compassion, leadership, concern and friendship. River could always be counted on.

If the Eunuch Archive gave out awards for devoted service, River deserves them in spades.

The best thing I can say about River, besides the fact he looks like me, is that the man is my friend.

River is now and will always be one of our family.

Well I would like to say a few things about "The River Man". First of all, he is a wonderful man in my eyes. He has helped a lot of people that I know of. He is always very sweet to the ladies. Bet he was a ladies man, too. But mainly, he listened when I was a bit down in the dumps. So a "Friend" I would call him for sure. I still do hope to make it out to meet him one day. Enjoy life, River.

Love ya, Lilac

I too would like to add to this thank you for River.

Over the last few years, he has done a great job of runnning the chatroom. Whenever we have needed him, he's been there, and he has always been incredibly supportive of the ops. At the same time, he has done an amazing amount of work to help keep the chat going, and keep things friendly, even when things were going very badly. His support and leadership in the chat will be deeply missed.

I sincerely hope that River will still pop by the chatroom from time to time, now that the weight has been lifted off his shoulders. Perhaps it could even become an enjoyable place to be again, rather than a place to put time in because of obligations.

Riverwind a big thanks for all you have done to make the EA such a wonderful place. So many have given so much of themselves to make this a wonderful place.

River it was a pleasure meeting in June '06.

I had to drink some of the leftover buttermilk from those great pancakes.

I enjoyed talking with you and hope to see you at the midwest meeting in Sept. '06.

You are a great person and I will always enjoy seeing you in the chat room.

Tome

what can I say River that hasn't already been said? Dave

River, if you feel like you need a break then I can totally respect that Of course I will ask you not to go... but only you know your mind. I hope you will be back at some point in the future.

In a weird way, we share a weird connection - we were both visited Dr Kimmel within a couple of days of each other, and I certainly have fond memories of that time . Anyway, sorry for my raves lately. I hope whatever you do, it goes great and you'll be able to update us further down the road

Thank you for all you've done and wishing you all the best for the future!

River, I am sad to hear the news but at the same time happy that you feel you are comfortable enough in your life to move on. I know this has been a struggle for you but you have made so much progress and accomplished more than many others can ever dream of. I loved my time out there with you and I especially enjoyed our trips to the Mall of America together Lots of unforgettable memories. You truly deserve the best in life and it is my hope you will find everything you are looking for. Thank you for all that you have done for me and for the EA. You are a wonderful person.

River, just promise that you'll make good use of all the extra time you'll have!

Thank you all for such kind words. I hope I stay coming in the room and chat but it is wonderful not having that responsibility over my head. And yes it is giving me more time.

Thank you,

River