Terry Jones (AP photo)

I was saddened to learn yesterday of the passing of Terry Jones, most famous as a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. I thought about posting a video of one or more of his performances as part of Monty Python (every nude organist appearance, anyone?), or an excerpt from his wonderful history videos (Terry Jones, gladiator?). Instead, I’m going to get a little personal, with an excerpt a post from my blog in 2016:

I met him, sort of, in Atlanta a year or two ago. Yes, it was at DragonCon, but I didn’t see him in a panel. I ran into him walking down a street in Atlanta.

I was on Courtland, walking toward the Sheraton for an event — or to wait in a long line for an event. And Terry Jones was coming the other way, toward the Hilton/Marriott area, walking at a fairly brisk pace. I saw him when I was about, oh, 20 or 30 feet away. I knew I was reacting to seeing him, but lost all control of my facial features.

I could feel the smile spreading across my face and I knew my eyes were opening wide, but I couldn’t do anything about it. I mean, it was Terry Jones.

He noticed. He looked me in the eye and grinned. As we passed, I said, “Good afternoon, Mr. Jones.” Only it probably came out something like “derp durr hurr.”

I so wanted to shake his hand, to hear him speak, but he had somewhere he was going, and there were opportunities to see him in panels and at autograph sessions. I regret not scheduling something like that.

I mentioned his historical videos earlier. As much as I enjoyed him in Monty Python (a lot), I loved the historical videos. They were always fun and always informative. I think I’ll spend the next few days watching all I can find. And missing Terry Jones.