Used to see a lot of David. Worked with him, hung with him. Camped with him. Enjoyed the hell out of him, respected his eye as a Gaffer/ LD. Quite a few years in. We drifted apart- as much a function of the weird dynamics of spouses not liking each other, I didn’t work in Philly as much, etc.
I heard yesterday and find myself quite upset. Reached out a few times in the last few years, never heard back. Figured okay, he kind of wrote me off. And now he’s gone. His death was as far from a surprise as you can get- yet it hit me hard. He was born with Cystic Fibrosis. Every year alive was an unexpected gift. He was around my age- 50.
I wish to hell I’d reconnected.
Nothing to do but mourn his loss to his great loving wife and twin boys, to his family and to the many friends and colleagues.
And damned well make myself try harder to be in touch with those lost…
Got someone like that in your past? Someone you wish you’d kept up with? Call em. Google em. Find em.
Lost a mentor that way. Didn’t drift apart but I got caught up in work and hadn’t made time to see him. Always enjoyed driving up to his house for a day of engaging in our mutual hobby which was history. We’d drive all over exploring stuff. found out he had cancer and thought he looked good the last time I saw him. Too stupid to inquire on the type of cancer.
My best friend from both grade school and high school. She grew up far prettier than me, and as a result I lost a couple of boyfriends to her. I finally had had enough of that and when I met a man who would eventually become my husband, stopped communicating with her.
Many years ago, once the internet was opening things up, I learned she had tried to get in touch with me through my sister, but I was still mad and didn’t respond.
In about 2009, I had been thinking of joining Facebook to look up old friends and I was finally getting over my youthful anger. Before doing so, I was looking at a page online which listed deaths of alumni from my high school, and I saw her name. She had died in 2007. I went ahead and joined Facebook anyway, and found a mutual old friend who confirmed the news - she had died from pancreatic cancer.
I wish I had gotten over our rivalry and looked her up sooner.
We have many Facebook is evil threads here but in truth it let me find several good friends I lost contact with and catch up. It also led to a weird but interesting connection to the first woman I ever said “I love you” to. It made me very happy to find out she is having a happy a successful life.
