emails from the other side

I was skimming my email archives a few days ago and ran across an email from my postdoc advisor at UTHSC in San Antonio. He passed away last year after a long battle with cancer. It was bizarre reading this email knowing that he was no longer here. Today, I found a paper published that referenced my first work from that lab. At the end, they thanked my previous advisor for his advice with the work. This must have been some of the last work that he was involved in. He and I butted heads a lot and weren't really all that close, but I think we did have a mutual respect for each other. After reading that paper today, I wished I could have picked up the phone and talked to him again...