My worst fears have come true GAF. The person I loved from the moment I saw him with his sparkling blue eyes, ready smile, and great personality is gone. I thought something was wrong when I didn't hear from him in a day or so but I just got word that the love of my life is dead. He was straight, so it wasn't a sexual thing, but he knew how I felt and he was very flattered and accepting of it. We've had a lot of ups and downs in our friendship, but more ups than downs, no hate, no bitterness.
I first met him on the first day of 6th grade, 3rd period band, around 10:15 in the morning. GAF, he was amazing. Sure he was cute, but I never really cared about that. What I always loved about him was his kindness, his good nature, his unbelievable friendliness. It took me years to even approach him. I know I talk a lot and in real life that's always been me too. I'm always so talkative, so argumentative, so passionate about things. But around him I was always reduced to a stuttering, stammering fool, somehow who could never say "no" to that smile, to that "look" in his eyes.
He was the first person that made me realize I was gay, but more importantly he was the person that taught me the most about humanity, about humanness. I had always read about people that met someone that became great, and how they said the moment they met them they just "knew" they had great things ahead of them. That's what I thought about Don. I saw the way that he treated people, from a waitress at Denny's he always slipped an extra 5 dollars to just because she was a nice person and probably needed the money to always knowing the littlest details about anyone he met, and always making you feel like he cared not because he was putting up a front, but because he did.
I knew fairly early on that he wouldn't want to be with me, I always knew that he was straight. For a long time I didn't even realize I liked him in that way, I just simply admired the hell out of him, his kind and generous spirit, his zest for life, his crazy side. He quickly grew from someone I "liked" on first meeting him to someone I "really" liked to someone I cannot imagine my life without.
Don and I talked many times about what I felt for him, and, less directly about what I meant to him. He told me recently that he considered me one of his few "true" friends, something I still hold close to my heart, because I will always consider him my first love and my best friend, even though he is gone. He supported me when I need it, as I tried to do for him. We laughed together, we cried together, we cared for each other very deeply.
He had a love for 70s music and dancing, he loved nothing more than to be out on the dance floor with a "hot Asian girl" and boogie. At Halloween he always wore a "space suit" which was a ridiculous shiny fake looking sparkly gray. Whenever he came to town for a visit we'd go to this local vietnamese food joint we liked, he'd get about 3 appetizers because he liked them more than anything. He was a vegan, he loved MSU but in general hated sports although he enjoyed basketball. He recently did a 10k run and was building up to eventually do a marathon. He was in the prime of his life and in tip top shape.
He was someone that I could trust with anything, and similarly he could and did trust me with things he would never have told another person. I feel like I should go on and say more, and I want to... but it just hurts so much right now. RIP my friend.
I first met him on the first day of 6th grade, 3rd period band, around 10:15 in the morning. GAF, he was amazing. Sure he was cute, but I never really cared about that. What I always loved about him was his kindness, his good nature, his unbelievable friendliness. It took me years to even approach him. I know I talk a lot and in real life that's always been me too. I'm always so talkative, so argumentative, so passionate about things. But around him I was always reduced to a stuttering, stammering fool, somehow who could never say "no" to that smile, to that "look" in his eyes.
He was the first person that made me realize I was gay, but more importantly he was the person that taught me the most about humanity, about humanness. I had always read about people that met someone that became great, and how they said the moment they met them they just "knew" they had great things ahead of them. That's what I thought about Don. I saw the way that he treated people, from a waitress at Denny's he always slipped an extra 5 dollars to just because she was a nice person and probably needed the money to always knowing the littlest details about anyone he met, and always making you feel like he cared not because he was putting up a front, but because he did.
I knew fairly early on that he wouldn't want to be with me, I always knew that he was straight. For a long time I didn't even realize I liked him in that way, I just simply admired the hell out of him, his kind and generous spirit, his zest for life, his crazy side. He quickly grew from someone I "liked" on first meeting him to someone I "really" liked to someone I cannot imagine my life without.
Don and I talked many times about what I felt for him, and, less directly about what I meant to him. He told me recently that he considered me one of his few "true" friends, something I still hold close to my heart, because I will always consider him my first love and my best friend, even though he is gone. He supported me when I need it, as I tried to do for him. We laughed together, we cried together, we cared for each other very deeply.
He had a love for 70s music and dancing, he loved nothing more than to be out on the dance floor with a "hot Asian girl" and boogie. At Halloween he always wore a "space suit" which was a ridiculous shiny fake looking sparkly gray. Whenever he came to town for a visit we'd go to this local vietnamese food joint we liked, he'd get about 3 appetizers because he liked them more than anything. He was a vegan, he loved MSU but in general hated sports although he enjoyed basketball. He recently did a 10k run and was building up to eventually do a marathon. He was in the prime of his life and in tip top shape.
He was someone that I could trust with anything, and similarly he could and did trust me with things he would never have told another person. I feel like I should go on and say more, and I want to... but it just hurts so much right now. RIP my friend.
