Two years on

Some weeks before Ben died a group of friends, cousins and brothers got together to shave their heads in solidarity with Ben's chemo-induced baldness. Ben was in hospital at the time but Stu and Photoshop put him in the picture.

"Bald is Better" went up in Ben’s ICU room a few weeks before he died and when he was compos mentis he enjoyed it. That’s over two years ago now.

I wondered the other day what he would notice if he ‘popped back for a day’. Loads of changes in the lives of his friends and family; people growing up, finishing studying, getting jobs, getting married.

At a local level he didn’t know about the Icehouse or that Matt would be a mad keen ice-hockey player; Ben started roller hockey in his early teens in Tucumán and wanted to play more ice hockey too.

Would he be surprised to know that Andy had owned four cars since he last saw him? I don’t think so.

At a societal level? Well he would be pleased to see that Iced Coffee Big Ms are still the same and that iconic Tim Tams still rule the chocolate biscuit aisle. He didn’t know Michael Jackson had stopped singing and dancing and he didn’t see The Dark Knight.

On a happy note, surely he would be delighted to know that Prince William - Australia’s future King, as a prominent politician reminded us - finally became engaged to Kate Middleton. Not!

What would he say about the unstoppable rise of Facebook? Would he finally succumb to it if he were still around? Would he have shrugged his shoulders and said “It’s no big deal” and signed on as one more of the millions, even though he was against it in 2008?

And what of this blog? Surely he would be surprised to know that the blog he asked us to set up - just to let his friends know how he was doing - is now about to pass 100,000 visits.

And all the questions we would ask him!

Rest in peace Ben… while you can, because when we get there it’s going to be one long party.