oh damage, sweet damage.

I've been meaning to post for days, but I haven't really found the words. This post has gone through various incarnations and titles. I've gone through different moods and have finally settled into one far more somber and sad than I'd originally started with.

All I can say is that sitting on my bed here in my room, I have never felt more isolated from my Oglethorpe family. Loneliness is not even the word to describe it. What I feel is more like grief, mixed with a sort of panicked apprehension for Sunday, the day I'm supposed to return home to my family, my Oglethorpe family.

The reason I feel this way is because a member of my family will not be there when I return. Erik Downes is gone, a fact I'm still having trouble coming to grips with but which still makes tears come to my eyes when I think of it. My friend is gone. I will no longer be able to greet him every day when I pass him on campus. I will no longer be able to sit through Senate meetings and share a grimace or a roll of the eyes with him when someone says something incredibly obvious or stupid. And I will no longer be able to admire his level-headedness, his work ethic, his drive, or his kindness in the present tense.

The worst thing about death is that it forces us to add an -ed to the actions of those people who make a lasting impact on our lives.

I honestly wish I could write something much more eloquent than this, but it seems I cannot.

All I can say is this: Erik, you will be missed in such a way that words cannot begin to express. Rest in peace, friend.