The Cinnamon Tree

The distance that the dead have gone
Does not at first appear —
Their coming back seems possible
For many an ardent year.

And then, that we have followed them,
We more than half suspect,
So intimate have we become
With their dear retrospect.
- Emily Dickinson

One of the few people I got along brilliantly with, passed away this morning. He was battling cancer for over a year and so I knew he had limited time. Only now that he’s gone do I realize just how badly hit I am. Over the last 7 years we weren’t even in touch that much. We wrote back and forth a little after he was diagnosed. But I didn’t go see him when I should have.

There are so few people with whom I am not awkward. He was certainly one of them. He could put anyone at complete easy very quickly. He was funny, goofy, melodramatic, flirtatious with all and prone to boredom. He would regularly cook up stories, create an alter-ego that was mostly believable with just a hint of the mad, to entertain himself and the person in the next seat. He didn’t take himself seriously enough to ever worry about where his life was headed and what he ought to change about himself or who he ought not offend. He just went along with whatever suited his fancy and see how beautifully that worked out for him. Fifteen days shy of his 33rd birthday, sanjaythelostboy had already lived a fuller, more loved life than I probably ever will.

May you rest in peace my friend, till you’re born again as the free spirit you always were and will be.