Bad news comes late
I’m not very happy.
In fact, I’m actually very damn sad at the moment.
The problem is, I don’t know if it’s my fault, or somebody else’s.
I don’t remember exactly when it was during the past few months that I tried calling him, and was told that it was not a working number. I didn’t think much of it at the time, because like me, the man has had his share of money problems, and I knew he was currently unemployed.
He and I had lost track of each other for a number of years. We ran into each other once in a while every couple of years, but never really got together to do anything. Then we lost track of each other again, only to meet purely by chance at my sister’s wedding back in 2009. This time, we exchanged phone numbers, and did a moderate job of keeping in touch with each other, always vowing to get together for coffee and catching up.
Back in the old days, he and I used to do a lot of drinking together. After we lost track of each other, he apparently continued to do so, because when we caught up to each other again, he was in need of a liver transplant. The few times I talked to him on the phone, he told me he also had a bit of cancer, and that was keeping him off the transplant list. He was looking into getting the cancer treated, and always sounded optimistic when we talked about it. I don’t know if it was the cancer or the faulty liver that ultimately did it, and right now I don’t really care. My friend is gone.
My friend has BEEN gone since July 8 of this year, and I just found out about it today. Something, I don’t know what, caused me to do a search of the Dispatch obituaries this morning, and I found it.
Is it my fault for not regularly reading newspapers? Is it his family’s fault for not contacting me thru my phone number, which was stored in his cell? It doesn’t matter now, although I would have liked to go to his funeral. What matters to me right now is that my friend is gone. Even though we didn’t do much more than talk on the phone over the past year and a half, I’m still going to miss him a great deal. It’s already getting hard to type.
Rest in peace, Kelly. 1962-2010.
In fact, I’m actually very damn sad at the moment.
The problem is, I don’t know if it’s my fault, or somebody else’s.
I don’t remember exactly when it was during the past few months that I tried calling him, and was told that it was not a working number. I didn’t think much of it at the time, because like me, the man has had his share of money problems, and I knew he was currently unemployed.
He and I had lost track of each other for a number of years. We ran into each other once in a while every couple of years, but never really got together to do anything. Then we lost track of each other again, only to meet purely by chance at my sister’s wedding back in 2009. This time, we exchanged phone numbers, and did a moderate job of keeping in touch with each other, always vowing to get together for coffee and catching up.
Back in the old days, he and I used to do a lot of drinking together. After we lost track of each other, he apparently continued to do so, because when we caught up to each other again, he was in need of a liver transplant. The few times I talked to him on the phone, he told me he also had a bit of cancer, and that was keeping him off the transplant list. He was looking into getting the cancer treated, and always sounded optimistic when we talked about it. I don’t know if it was the cancer or the faulty liver that ultimately did it, and right now I don’t really care. My friend is gone.
My friend has BEEN gone since July 8 of this year, and I just found out about it today. Something, I don’t know what, caused me to do a search of the Dispatch obituaries this morning, and I found it.
Is it my fault for not regularly reading newspapers? Is it his family’s fault for not contacting me thru my phone number, which was stored in his cell? It doesn’t matter now, although I would have liked to go to his funeral. What matters to me right now is that my friend is gone. Even though we didn’t do much more than talk on the phone over the past year and a half, I’m still going to miss him a great deal. It’s already getting hard to type.
Rest in peace, Kelly. 1962-2010.
Labels: Contact, Death, Friends, Obituaries
posted by Bill | 11:05
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