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I Don’t Know What To Say

·303 words·2 mins
Daniel Andrlik
Author
Daniel Andrlik lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia. By day he manages product teams. The rest of the time he is a podcast host and producer, writer of speculative fiction, a rabid reader, and a programmer.

A friend of mine died yesterday.

I had not known Jeff very long, but he was one of the first people I met in Madison and he was one of my favorite coworkers. Jeff was one of those jolly people who is a delight to talk with and be around. He was so laid-back, so level-headed and so much fun that I really looked forward to chatting with him every day.

I don’t know how he died yet, no one does, and I don’t know Marie (who was Jeff’s partner) well enough to call and ask her. I opened my email this afternoon, just now actually, and found an announcement from my boss regarding Jeff’s passing away. I don’t know, I’m confused by the intensity of my reaction. On the one hand, I’ve only known Jeff a couple months, why is this affecting me so much? But then again, Jeff was someone special and even in the short time I have known him I can tell that he had the magical ability to touch anyone he met.

It is so strange, when I saw him just this last Friday, he seemed healthy and happy. He was laughing and joking around and even biked home from work. He was only in his early 40’s. I just don’t understand what happened, and there probably won’t be any more information until at least tomorrow.

I keep thinking that it is just some sick joke, that I’ll get another email saying, “Only kidding!” or a call telling me it was a false alarm, but I know that’s not going to happen. It’s real, and he’s gone.

I am sorry, I am just starting to ramble now, but I will miss him. I’ll post more when I know more and can think about this in a centered fashion.

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