I didn't have a car when I showed up to St. Mary's, actually I didn't even have a license at that point. Eventually I got my license, but still being carless my junior year I found myself of legal age with a newly expired license. I didn't feel comfortable asking someone to drive me to the MVA, which was pretty far away, but moreso because of the fear of how long it could take. We had grown up seeing the horrors Patty and Selma could wreak on people... Eventually Ben took me there, but before then Harold yelled at me a lot for my expired ID (Editors note: Harold was right to yell at me). I mean it was obviously me on the ID, and I have seen plenty of people pass an ID behind themselves to the next person. So, my first impression of Harold was mixed.
But everyone liked him, and I learned to as well. Funny, kind, cheap bar tabs, everything you're looking for in a bartender. My wife and I were lucky enough to take a trip down to St. Mary's for a weekend in February of 2020. I messaged Harold and told him we'd be down, and he was kind enough to let us know he'd be working Saturday happy hour. He looked rough, really rough. I was happy to see him, but I know that for me at least it's hard to accept what your eyes are showing you. I hate knowing that everything changes and goes away eventually, whether it's the field at the Crescents or a good friend.
I'm going to miss sitting at the Door with Ben and catching Harold up on all the dumb things we had been doing. He always seemed so interested in our shenanigans, I think Harold really loved humans and our stories a lot more than most people.
I know that facebook is awful and everything but for better or worse that's the primary way I communicated with Harold, and I am going to miss all of his posts, especially the ones about bed linens and his dad.
Here are three random memories of Harold:
-harold playing clash of clans at a competitive level while bartending, and knowing that my tips would go towards that
-seeing harold in Baltimore at the alumni o's game/Pickles
-like, a lot of times when you would order your drink, I feel like he gave you a smile or a look or an eye raise that kinda said "look, everyone else in here is a drunk asshole, but right now, as you take your drink, please don't do anything to annoy me further" in the most empathetic, human way.
Raise a glass that you took home after pint night and leave some memories in the comments.
