Al Martinez remembered by his wife

When he died in January, LA Observed columnist Al Martinez was also writing a regular column for AARP. It's on the association's blog that Joanne Martinez, his wife of many years, has posted a new piece remembering Al. "Al explored humans," she writes. "He had a magnificent ability to make people talk. But he also saw drama in the falling leaves of autumn and the glow of new green growth in the spring. Love, sex, martinis and anything that produced a sensation: That was what he wrote about."

Here's the whole thing, and below is a sample.

Al was a complicated man. I could never ask him to do anything. “Would you pick up a container of milk while you’re out?” “Oh for [blank] sakes. Can’t I even make a quick trip to the bank without having to take care of a million other things?”

Nor could I disagree with him. If he said we had two kids when we really had three, and I corrected him, the response was instant: “I’m just having a conversation. It’s not an inquisition.”

He never minded giving advice: Smile more, be quiet, talk, look happy, and any other miscellaneous thing that popped into his mind. He spoke as he thought.

But then, he never told me what I could or couldn’t buy, and he always praised me to others. He wrote about me in a more-than-loving way. Our life was a balancing act: This part good, that not so much.

Previously on LA Observed:
Al Martinez, our columnist, died today
Bill Boyarsky: The story teller exits
Huntington curator on 'The Bard of LA'