Mr. T

I feel like I've been walking in a circle today, without a purpose or destination.

My phone rang yesterday evening around 5 pm and on the other end was a friend, with news. The kind that makes your stomach turn inside out. I'm still in complete shock.

Our friend, Tom, passed away yesterday in the very early morning hours. He was 37. I've known him for six years and met him at my last place of employment and saw him just a couple of weeks ago. He was in Marketing, I was in Communications and we became two peas in a pod. I loved his Scottish self.

Tom had been at a get together on Saturday evening and stayed over at the house he was visiting. In the night - early morning hours - he got up for some reason and fell down a flight of stairs and died instantly. Gone. Dreams. A job. Friends. Family. Future kids. Gone. Everything...gone.

His mother, father and one of his sisters are flying from Scotland to Canada later this week. His mother needs to see him and then they will escort him home.

I feel like I'm in a daze and am wondering why the rest of the world has not stopped, too. Doesn't everyone realize what happened? Yet, life just keeps on going...forcing me to keep on going.

It's impossible to sum up the kind of person Tom was without writing a complete book. He was the kind of guy that would give his last penny to anyone that needed it. He was the kind of guy that when he gave his word and said he'd do something, or be there, he would follow through. He was the kind of guy that never (NEVER) said one negative word about another person. He was also the kind of guy that would fall asleep at his desk (in his defense, during June and July we would work 18 hour days for a run of 3 to 4 weeks without a day off) and wouldn't notice as we used a packing tape gun to tape his legs TO his desk. He was the kind of guy that would have a burping contest to see how much of the alphabet he could burp out in one go. He was the kind of guy that wore a suit and tie - even on weekends. He was a sarcastic, caring, crazy smart and talented guy.

I just can't imagine this world without him. It just doesn't feel right.

Simply put, he was amazing.