Thank You, WUC or Swarm or Whatever We Call This Beautiful Mess

Thank You, WUC or Swarm or Whatever We Call This Beautiful Mess

Today I accepted a position with my company that is moving my family out of state. We’ve been here 6 years. I told Bottlecap this was the “most bittersweet decision I’ve ever had to make”. I had no idea how to tell the group so I figured as a founding father of the Playhouse and the Floater, it only made sense to put it out there where I feel most comfortable…on GroupMe and in a backblast.

This message had to come out this way. It’s cathartic to me. It allows me to pour out my soul…even if only in starts and fits. Most likely the vast majority of you didn’t know this, but me and a band of misfit toys hijacked a serious comms channel on GroupMe and turned it into the Playhouse. This is my digital home. This is where F3 started for me. I named the place! So, this is what I had to say. I’m not gone and won’t be for a few more months, but it is the beginning of the next chapter in my life. Before that all formally begins, I had to get this all off my chest. Here goes:

Thank you F3. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for being my outlet. Thank you for rescuing me from male loneliness. Thank you for introducing me to friends…no, brothers. Thank you for allowing me to reach others. Thank you for allowing me to offend those who needed offending. Thank you for helping me learn to say “I’m sorry” when I actually did cross the line. Thank you for the Playhouse and the #SlackSux fiasco, and for all the other juvenile antics I’ve had a hand in. Thank you for Floater and the #streak. Thank you for cops catching us hanging ridiculous signs of Recalculating down by Waxhaw’s playground. Thank you for athletic fit shirts and the jokes that go with it. Thank you for bloody nipples. Thank you for man touch Monday’s. Thank you for Frack and Doc and Transporter and Dasher and Turtle and Shampoodle and Posse. Thank you for Lou Nali and Ray Noonan and Marc Lehane and Keith Balaniz and Jeff Thoms. Thank you for Phillip and Ben. Thank you for my circle. Thank you for OUR circle.

Thank you F3. Thank you for being available where I’ll need you next. Thank you for reaching your tentacles into Northeast Tennessee. This is not the end, only a new beginning. Luckily for me, I still have another 60 or so days to post on GroupMe before my rights are revoked by our resident police force. Until that day, I plan to defend my Playhouse Triple Crown. It’s what any respectable E333ie Winner would do. God bless you guys.

Your friend,

Derek (or Moneyball)