John

I just found out that one of my old college friends died yesterday. Apparently he had an aneurysm. It's still a little unreal. John and I were pretty good friends during Freshman year, although we drifted a little later on, we were always friends. I had only just last month re-connected on Facebook. Here is a picture that I took of him in his dorm room. It is about 13 years old, but he hasn't changed much. He still even has the beard. Of course, hearing of his death has really made me think. At first, selfishly thinking about my own mortality. I think that's a pretty normal reaction when a contemporary dies. But then I got to thinking about John, and how I remembered him. We became friends in our Freshman philosophy class. John was much better at that sort of sophistry than I was and he helped me a lot. Many nights we would spend discussing the whys and wherefore's of the universe into the wee hours. I remember one in particular, we piled into John's enormous sedan and went to Hemisfair park in the middle of the night. 18 year olds being completely indestructible, we didn't worry about the fact that downtown San Antonio is probably not the best place to hang out 'o nights, but youth is stupid. Anyway, we all found a likely bit of pavement, stared up at the stars and contemplated our purpose in the universe. John was, and remained until his death, agnostic. I guess those questions are answered for him now. I keep thinking, did I ever share with him what I know to be true? To be frank, my testimony in my college days was pretty shaky, but it was there. I don't think that I ever shared it during all of those late night philosophy sessions, and now, I never can. I wish that I had. No, I'm not feeling ridiculously guilty, just sorry for a lost opportunity.
I'll miss you, my friend. The world has lost a good person.