Good-bye to a great friend

This past week-end a co-worker and dear friend passed away. He had been diagnosed with Cancer a little over a month and a half ago, and succumbed on Saturday.

His Funeral was yesterday, and it was an emotional tribute to a truly terrific man. Willy was one of the happiest people I have ever met. He was one of those people who was always quick with a smile, and even quicker with a joke or a card trick. He will truly be missed around the office.

I remember meeting him when I first started in this job a year and half ago. We worked together and became fast friends. I realize now that Willy became fast friends with everyone he met, but, there was more than enough good nature in him to go around.

The last time I saw Willy, he was on my floor looking for someone else and standing outside my Cubicle. It was a Friday. He was chatting and told me that he missed me on his floor. He was also holding his back, which he told me he had sprained at the gym. As it turns out, less than a week later his doctors found tumours on his Spinal cord.

I can't stop thinking about his Son (who I have never met), watching them wheel his father’s casket out. He wore sunglasses, yet I could read every movement as though they were my own. I knew his helplessness, sadness and confusion as I lost my Mother far too early in her life. The feeling of waste, and a loss so profound that it feels as though nothing will ever fill the void. Of course nothing ever does. You meet different people over time that helps to cover up the void, but it is never filled in.

I never met his son before yesterday. But, I feel like I know him now.