And yet another... RIP

I've been feeling weird and detached all day today. A phone call I just received confirms why.

Dave was a great embalmer and one of the funniest people I had ever had the pleasure of knowing. It's almost impossible to describe him, and it's my firm belief that only people who had the privilege of experiencing him can understand what a loss we've just incurred.

Dave explained to me long before his cancer diagnosis that it was his mission (completed mission, I might add) to do everything he wanted to do in his life before the age of 50. That way, every day after 50 was just a bonus. He lived his life truly and fully, and only on his terms.

All of us should have such character and determination.

After his diagnosis, he described the side effects of one of his more radical treatments in quite possibly the funniest statements I've ever heard, but just too raw to write here, even for my standards.

I'm at a loss for any other words to write. Dave, I'll miss you. The world doesn't change... but it certainly has less in it without you.

I'm cracking a beer or two for you tonight. No one could hit 'em with the powder puff like you. You beat fifty and almost made sixty.

Mission accomplished.

Godspeed.