All Souls

In recent weeks I've been thinking a lot about how fortunate we were to have someone in the blogging community who knew so much about commercial real estate. We could always rely on Dennis Lane to have the skinny on all things local. I don't think anyone realized at the time what a rich resource this was. It was just something that he did, and did well.

Whenever I drive around Howard County and see something happening which sparks my curiousity, I long for the days when it would surely appear on Tales of Two Cities. Dennis knew what to share, what to keep in confidence, what was important, and what was likely just a flash in the pan. It was hardly the only thing he wrote about. But his blog was where my budding interest in all of this was nurtured and informed.

I hesitated before writing about this because it may seem maudlin or unseemly to keep bringing up Dennis when I knew him so peripherally compared to others who must feel his loss so deeply. But that's the thing about blogs and community involvement: they foster a sense of relationship and connection. When going back to his blog this morning I found a comment written only one week ago:

I am reminded yet again that your voice is sorely missed these days. I wonder what you would say about the Downtown goings on and the folks whose feet remain squarely in the past...

Dennis shared the stories which taught us that real estate is more than just money and land use decisions, that developers might just be people and not cartoon cut-out monsters. His love for the community and his rich depth of knowledge made the little bits of information he shared as delicious as tales from Scheherazade's thousand and one nights.

You wouldn't think that real estate was that interesting. But his love of our community made it shine.