I sit in stunned silence

I just woke up to the most horrible news. My close friend Mike, the man who inspired me to start blogging, died on Wednesday night. Cory read the horrible news on Mike's blog and woke me up to tell me the news.

Three and a half years ago, I was living in Kirksville, Missouri, and Mike was in Atlanta. I'd just been offered the job here in C-Town, and was so excited to be moving to the South.

"Guess what?" I asked, after calling Mike to tell him the good news. "I'm moving to Georgia!"
"Oh yeah?" He responded, not missing a beat. "I'm moving to New York City!"

When I flew down to look for an apartment, we met for lunch at the airport. Since then, I've only seen him twice: Once for a brief visit when my grandmother passed away in Massachusetts two years ago, and once last summer when he came down to Georgia to visit family. He'd managed to squeeze in an evening of dinner and drinks with his friends, and I had to beg for a day off to go up to Atlanta and see him. It was the first, and only, time that Mike and Cory ever met. I'm so glad that Cory got the opportunity to get to know him.

Mike and I only talked a few times a year, but he was never far from my thoughts. I probably checked his blog dozens of times a day. In fact, I even commented to an old post on his blog yesterday, not even knowing that he'd passed.

Just a few weeks ago, Mike called to congratulate us on our engagement. We only got to talk for about ten minutes, and I feel horrible now for not talking to him longer, for not letting Cory talk to him, for not asking more about Mike's life instead of rambling on and on about mine. We assured each other that we'd talk again soon, and I never once thought that we wouldn't. The word "stunned" doesn't even begin to describe how I feel.

I'm going back to bed now, though I suspect I won't get much sleep tonight.