Last night my wife and I went to the wake of a bass player friend of mine who had passed away earlier in the week. He was a talented guy - a really good bassist, a decent rhythm guitar player, possessing a unique voice and always an acerbic wit.
He'd had problems with diabetes his entire life, and suffered from its complications on numerous occasions. Maybe he felt like his body betrayed him, and maybe that resulted in him not always taking care of himself the way he should have, but the long story short is that he suffered some spinal damage and out of the blue became a quadriplegic 10 years ago at age 34. (He fell asleep one morning, and woke up a few hours later unable to move.)
The cruelest part of all of it was that all that talent and a good musical voice were silenced.
I thought I'd try to take a page from our friend Dave Brosky, and try to say something meaningful and encouraging about all this. But I'm left a bit speechless - a rarity for me.
I just feel like I can't let any petty disappointments get me discouraged on my Stick path - and feeling like I need to reassess some things in my life and see if anything needs attention, or shifting.

Sorry for your loss. Thanks for sharing and feeling comfortable enough to share. I'm going through a hard thing right now that I have not wanted to share. I think maybe I'm underestimating my Stick friends and shouldn't be so small. Sharing when you are down and feelings are strong is a strength. Thanks for the reminder.

-Eric

Sorry to hear about your loss....sounds like your friend was lucky to have a thoughtful guy like you in his life. As you reassess, I'm sure we'd all be interested in hearing your thoughts if you feel comfortable to share them.

My condolences - a loss like this makes you take stock and reflect on your owm mortality. I lost someone last week I'd known for a while, been thinking a lot since about what's really important to me. Hope you work things out, Luc.

-Marc-

Life is such a fragile and terrifying thing. We're so fortunate that we have our health when there are so many people who suffer on the earth.

Luc, I'm very sorry for your loss.

Kev

It is always sad to see someone go, all the more so when they are young. As you mourn your friend, remember his talents and how he enjoyed them. I am sure he, like Jason Becker, never lost the music.

Thanks, everyone, for your very kind words.

sorry for your loss, Luc. makes me, as a recovering alcoholic, wonder why im one of the "saved" ones. "Stay sober, help another alcoholic". add to that, "Make a joyful noise"