Last night I received a call from my son telling me that a friend had died suddenly, there was a catch I his voice and I knew that he was fighting hard not to break down.
The young man has been a friend for many years and was part of a group who were very close as youngsters and have remained so even though the group has spread all over the world.
Now working in many different fields they still meet quite often for a celebration at the pub when ever one or another is leaving for a while or returning from overseas.
One member of the group found on his return from a two year stay in Canada found the entire group waiting to welcome him home. These guys are really close and this is the first loss of this sort that they have suffered and they are all devastated. When one member of the group was seriously ill a few years ago the others rallied round and did everything they could to help him to recover.
They young man who died had returned that day from visiting relatives in Hong Kong there would have been a welcome home sometime in the next few days, instead there will be a funereal and things will never be quite the same again. When a close friend, a contemporary dies ,especially if it is the first loss of its kind within a group there is of course the dreadful sense of loss but beyond that their is the sudden realisation that you are not immortal,that it could so easily have been yourself. I lost several close friends in a car crash when I was sixteen and it gave me such a jolt as I have ever forgotten, I could so easily have been in that car,with my friends. Worse than all is the void they leave that can never be filled,, an aching chasm which threatens to draw you in when the knowledge of what you have lost forever becomes too much to be born.
Kai was a fine young man, he was exceptional in many ways, he will be much missed by his family and friends, he will not be forgotten.
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