Services for a friend
Today I went to the services for a friend and the Celebration of his life afterwards. He passed away after battling Leukemia for 16 months, he was only 47 years old and leaves behind two sons, a stepson and a loving wife… And so many friends and extended family and fans and admirers.
It is at once sobering and strangely uplifting to see how many people have stories about a man whom I knew at first only by reputation and then through his son and finally through my own terms. I call him a friend but I think I really did not earn the right to call him one. Especially when so many others closer to him grieve so very much.
Still, I have shed many tears for this man, who, though famous, was so personable, easy to approach and so willing to listen and find out what you had to say, even about topics in which he was an acknowledged expert. I think that is why I have shed many tears in fact. Because he was a rare person indeed to be so helpful and open. And because he loved his family so much. And everytime I thought of my friend interacting with his dad I got a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that they had the type of relationship I have seen.
Like many, I do have regrets. I regret that I did not have a few more meetings with him, I think if I had I would then feel more comfortable calling him my friend. I regret not making and giving him a joke gift I had planned just for him. I regret that he won’t see his latest project be released and see it gain him many more fans. And I have many many regrets that he won’t share life events with his family.
But… he would’ve been the first to say be happy and try not to have regrets. So now that I have typed them I will try to move on and instead I will have years of memories to be thankful for and even souvenirs of his work to cherish and when his latest project is released I will smile anytime his work in it is praised.
