Another Passing...

This one's more personal...A guy in my high school class was killed last weekend while mountain-climbing in Oregon. He wasn't a close friend - I'd lost touch with him years and years ago - but he was a core member of a group of friends I knew well, a couple of whom I'm still very much in touch with. It was through them I heard the news, though I don't know all the details, and they took it very hard.

On me, his passing has had a more muted effect, after the initial shock - sorrowful reflection rather than tears or sleepless nights. I'm still processing it, though. I've been seeing his face throughout the day, seeing it as I remember it from high school. I see it always with a smile...not because he was always smiling, but because he had such a nice smile - quiet, yet tinged with a spark of impish humor. And that was his personality, too. Quiet to those who didn't know him well (which included me, except by observation), but a presence that made itself felt.

Good-bye, Pat. I don't know what happens after death - but I hope you know how much you're missed.


One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

-John Donne