Chris and I were not good friends. In fact, there were times that I could not stand being around him (and probably vice versa). That did not stop us from having good times together, nor did it stop me from mourning when I heard that he passed away today. I'm still in shock. He was talking about haircuts or something else mundane just a couple of days ago (probably moaning about women ... he did that a lot). Now he's suddenly gone.
Chris and I shared a lot of common interests; although he tended to go a little darker than I preferred. The first I really knew about him was after he dumped one of my friends. Then the jerk had the audacity to be fun to hang around when we were in the Sound of Music together our freshmen year. We only had small speaking parts, but in one scene we self-choreographed a hostile encounter between the two of our characters, utilizing a prop cane that he carried.
He, Chad, and I sang a trio version of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" at one of the first Spaghetti Dinner concerts. We, with Derek, were part of the quartet of Keystone Cops who received silver chalices in recognition for our crew work (as well as singing and dancing) in The Pirates of the Penzance. He and I stole Paul Chamberlain's lines every time Paul didn't show up for a South Pacific rehearsal. The two of us and Aaron were the low basses in the Men's Choir that was state ranked.
The jerk dated my sister (I'm talking about Chris here, not Aaron--although he did too), and I did not think the best of him when that didn't go well. Then he would get me laughing again about some off-color Dungeons and Dragons joke. He broke a couple of my friends' hearts, but we still commiserated together during the times when our hearts were broken too. Like many high school connections, we lost touch during college.
Once Facebook was invented, we reconnected. Again, I cannot claim a close friendship, but we read each other's posts and commented from time to time. I had expected to be able to do so for decades to come.
Not this. I did not expect this.
I mourn his passing and pray for his children.
Chris and I shared a lot of common interests; although he tended to go a little darker than I preferred. The first I really knew about him was after he dumped one of my friends. Then the jerk had the audacity to be fun to hang around when we were in the Sound of Music together our freshmen year. We only had small speaking parts, but in one scene we self-choreographed a hostile encounter between the two of our characters, utilizing a prop cane that he carried.
He, Chad, and I sang a trio version of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" at one of the first Spaghetti Dinner concerts. We, with Derek, were part of the quartet of Keystone Cops who received silver chalices in recognition for our crew work (as well as singing and dancing) in The Pirates of the Penzance. He and I stole Paul Chamberlain's lines every time Paul didn't show up for a South Pacific rehearsal. The two of us and Aaron were the low basses in the Men's Choir that was state ranked.
The jerk dated my sister (I'm talking about Chris here, not Aaron--although he did too), and I did not think the best of him when that didn't go well. Then he would get me laughing again about some off-color Dungeons and Dragons joke. He broke a couple of my friends' hearts, but we still commiserated together during the times when our hearts were broken too. Like many high school connections, we lost touch during college.
Once Facebook was invented, we reconnected. Again, I cannot claim a close friendship, but we read each other's posts and commented from time to time. I had expected to be able to do so for decades to come.
Not this. I did not expect this.
I mourn his passing and pray for his children.
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