Enjoyed the ride: Sad to see our travels with Anthony Bourdain have come to an end
My wife has had a crush on Anthony Bourdain longer than I can remember and Friday's news of his death by suicide was devastating.
We've both been longtime fans of his CNN series, "Parts Unknown," and still have three unwatched episodes recorded - on Hong Kong, Armenia and Newfoundland.
Our favorite, of course, was his 2015 journey through the Lowcountry, where Charleston chef Sean Brock introduced him to Waffle House. It was Waffle House, Brock said, that had inspired his own culinary interest.
Bourdain was confused and amused by the choice, but came away a fan of this late-night Southern wonder and its smothered hash browns.
Waffle House, he said, is "where everybody regardless of race, creed, color or degree of inebriation is welcomed."
On that same trip, Bourdain visited T.W. Graham's in McClellanville; a photo of him and the staff was on the wall last time I looked. Unfortunately, Graham's didn't make the cut on the one-hour show. Too much time spent at Waffle House, no doubt.
"Parts Unknown" is about food, of course, but more than that it is about people and geography.
A recent episode on Uruguay highlighted its food, its history, its people, and by the end of the episode Elaine and I had put Uruguay high on our bucket list.
Another recent episode took him to West Virginia's coal country, where he found the people to be gracious and welcoming despite their often-different political views.
At one point, Bourdain traveled 5,000 feet into a mine in Kimbrell, then had lunch with miners while they described the joys and hardships of coal mining.
I was introduced to Anthony Bourdain through his classic 2000 best-seller, "Kitchen Confidential," the book that turned Anthony Bourdain from chef to celebrity.
He offered a startling behind-the-scenes look at the restaurant business in New York - the drugs, the anger, the abuse, the angst - as well as some secrets customers ought to know.
Some I still remember: Never order fish, especially mussels, on Monday because it's likely been sitting around since Friday. And beware of well-done beef; overcooking may hide its less-than-prime quality.
One never knows what drives successful people, at the peak of their popularity, to suicide. We were bewildered after Robin Williams and remain bewildered after Kate Spade and now Anthony Bourdain.
But as the Centers for Disease Control made clear just this week, suicide picks no favorites. Suicide rates have increased 25 percent since 1999; in 2016, there were 45,000 suicides in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Those statistics are alarming.
On Friday, Elaine sent a text to our daughter, also a fan, offering a classic Bourdain quote: "Your body isn't a temple. It's an amusement park. Enjoy the ride!"
To which she added: "You would think that sort of love of life attitude would protect you from depression and suicide. The fact that it doesn't is disconcerting."
We can only pray that Anthony Bourdain can now find the peace that apparently eluded him in life.
Contact Bob Bestler at bestler6@tds.net.
This story was originally published June 8, 2018 at 3:15 PM with the headline "Enjoyed the ride: Sad to see our travels with Anthony Bourdain have come to an end."