Warning...this is a bit sappy...and not camping or homeschooling or anything like that. Proceed at your own risk!
Doug was a special kid. When I worked for AT&T Wireless in NC, Doug was a customer service rep. You could sense that he was going to be special...when he called my tech group for assistance he usually had it all figured out already and could just tell you what needed to be done.
It wasn't long before he was applying to become part of the team. The biggest concern was that most of the rest of my team didn't like him very much because he knew more than most and wasn't afraid to let them know it. He was such a talent though that we pulled him into the team anyway and I took him under my wing to show him how to help the others understand what he did.
It was one of the best decisions I've ever been part of. Doug quickly became a leader on the team and began to expand his horizons even further. He started working with me and another fellow, Brian Billings, on our web design projects using ColdFusion. Quickly he surpassed us both in skill and understanding.
He met a girl out west through work and before I knew it he was leaving us to be a web contractor and getting married. He had a little girl in 2006 who was his everything. He absolutely loved her with all his heart and would call me from time to time to brag about how she was doing. Stephanie was about 2 years older so we would compare notes and cheer each other on as parents. This was clearly a high point for Doug.
So...let's get back to that day 2 years ago. Unfortunately, as people (especially me) tend to do, we got lazy in our friendship and we drifted apart. We'd drop emails to each other rarely, but really we just got into our own groves. So...two years ago today I saw this note come up about his birthday and clicked on his wall to see how he was doing. It seemed I was a bit late...Doug had taken his own life in May of the previous year.
What a horrible shock. Someone I had considered a close friend had been gone almost a year and I didn't know. So now each year this day sneaks up on me again and I find myself contemplating what could have been different. Wondering if I had forced more interaction could I have turned him around or at least seen it coming and gotten him help. I could put a million morals here, but if you read this far i assume you can get your own message from my story. Hopefully you got something out of it.
Regardless, there is no going back...so I think about these things and then just remember Doug (I called him "Fresh") for all the good times. Till we meet again...Happy Birthday Fresh!
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