An old friend of mine who I’d not seen, frankly, since my wedding in 1990, died last night after months of treatment for pancreatic cancer. Eric was a couple of years behind me in school. The Venn diagrams of our social circles intersected in a few places, and I was lucky enough to get to know him back in highschool. Eric was one of those people who everyone loved. Everything considered him a best friend. Super friendly, smart, outgoing.

I regret that I didn’t get to know him as an adult. I think that many of us who went away to school had paths the diverged from those who stuck around home after highschool. So yeah, I do regret missing out on Eric all these years, but I realize that our time is limited and the truth is there are so many good people out there and there’s just not enough time to connect with everyone as we’d like to. But this is a reminder to do the best I can. I can do better.

I could bitch about cancer seeming to take the really really good people too early, but I don’t think Eric would like that. I don’t get the impression that’s the kind of person he grew up to be.