RIP Brian

I was having a fine Saturday. I donated my plasma at a blood center then had a great burger with some friends in Brookfield. We then went to a huge arcade and played games for four hours. I hadn't played Super Mario Bros in maybe 20 years. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.'

Then I began my hour drive home to St. Charles. At a red light I checked my phone. I saw a post from my friend Jennifer, who recently move to Houston. The post began with these words...

RIP Brian Geddes.

In essence, he developed blood clots in his lungs and it turned out to be a fatal situation.

Now Brian was one of the best friends I've ever had. I met him in 1997 shortly after I moved to Illinois. We were in the same church small group. Within a couple of times of meeting, I knew we had a certain chemistry. It was one of those connections where I would say something and he'd just run with it. He'd say something and I'd pick up on it immediately. Even if no one else in the room got it, we'd be laughing.

Even after I went away to college and later came back, our friendship remained. He was running in some different circles, but I didn't think anything of it. I had heard he was planning to move to Dallas and go to seminary down there. As I recall, he was there for a short time and came back. I don't know the story and I don't even care to know. What matters is that he cut off contact with all his friends who were Christians and went to church. And that included me. I tried calling a few times and he never responded.

I respect that he lived his life how he chose, but I'm still disappointed in the way that he chose to do it. I believe our last contact was in 2006 or 2007, I'm not even sure anymore. So it's safe to say I didn't expect to ever speak to him again, but I always held out a little bit of hope that we might come back together. Now I know it will never happen.

As for my feelings, well, I'm still making sense of that. My world isn't rocked by it. I haven't cried, I don't know if it's really sunk in. I guess it's a feeling of disappointment and the recognizing of a friendship that should have lasted a lot longer than it really did. But it reinforces the fact that a relationship of any kind needs both parties to care.

I'll just put it this way. There are only three phone numbers I have memorized to this day. Mine, my mother's, and Brian's.

So long Geds. I pray that the God you grew up serving and loving now takes you home.