Dear Friends,
I was saddened greatly to learn that my friend from grade school, Patrick, died suddenly early in the week. Of all the people I reconnected with due to social media, Patrick was easily the one who I wanted to get to know better, pick his brain, and build a stronger friendship.
Patrick was a prolific writer and his first book, Joshua’s Island, touched me deeply. It is about his experience at our grade school and the bullying he endured. It made me wonder if I had been one of those people that made his school life so unbearable.
I hoped that I hadn’t and he assured me several years ago that I had not, but I wasn’t always the nicest person in those days. I had a lot of anger inside me and a lot of confusion about certain things that I often took out on people who did not deserve it. Reading Joshua’s Island brought back a lot of feelings for me, too, and I was and am in awe of the talent Patrick had.
Patrick was also a music lover, so we had a lot of conversations via FB messenger about music. I will miss those a lot. I enjoyed his yearly lists of the best songs that had come out that year and he turned me on to a lot of things I would not have known about otherwise.
There is a hole in the world right now.
*****
I have a lot to say about the Suns game last night, but I just want to leave this alone today and think of Patrick. I hope everyone goes out and lives their best life today. Saturday is a good day for that.
*****
If anything comes from losing my friend, it will be that I need to write more and more. Patrick was not about to stop, even though he was faced with a lot of health issues, so I have no excuse to stop either. I will always appreciate his kind words and encouragement and will not forget to listen to new music, even when I want to cling to the old tried and true stuff. Peace to those who love and miss him.
See you tomorrow.
Thank you, my friend.
Comments