SkinsNatsFan Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 A good friend of mine from High School died last week. He'd been struggling with severe liver problems that had been caused by heavy drinking. He was 45. We partied hard in High School and had a lot of fun. My Dad lost his job near the end of my Senior year. We left town right after my graduation, 1977, and I've never been back. We wrote a few letters back and forth, and talked on the phone a few times over the years, but never really kept in touch. I got a job and found new partying buddies and continued the hard partying for a few years. I eventually got bored with it and tired of it I guess. I'm guessing that he didn't. I don't know what his life was like after high school. I know he was married at one time and has a daughter living in another state. The guy was very smart, with a quick wit. Good to be around. I'm kind of numb about this. I wish I'd known how sick he was. I wish I'd known before that that he was still hitting the booze too hard and killing his liver. I barely spoke with him in the last 28 years and now I miss him, big time. I'm not sure how to say this, but if you know you've been partying too hard and too long, try to back off. Get help if you need it. This is a damn waste. I'm praying for his Mom, his daughter, his sister, his brothers, and his friends. Dave, I miss ya man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
illone Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Dealing with death is tough, bro. Just don't head for the bottle, it's a vicious cycle. Trust that your friend is in a better place. Hang in there SNF, you'll be in my prayers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redman Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Sorry, man. I've learned of peoples' deaths after not seeing them for years, and not ever having had the close relationship you did with him in high school, and it's always a shock. Hell, it was shocking when One Dollar passed on a couple of years ago. It's a good lesson about not putting off making your relationships with people right. We're all living on borrowed time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaceman Spiff Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 That sucks man. I had a friend I lost touch with after high school, we were best friends all the way back to 1st grade. I want to get back in touch with him but I don't know how, it's awkward making that first step or phonecall. Perhaps I should... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redman Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Originally posted by Spaceman Spiff That sucks man. I had a friend I lost touch with after high school, we were best friends all the way back to 1st grade. I want to get back in touch with him but I don't know how, it's awkward making that first step or phonecall. Perhaps I should... My personal experience is that it's only awkward thinking about it, like when you have the phone in your hand getting ready to make the call. Most old friends are very pleasantly surprised to hear from you and it ends up being a great conversation. Go for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsNatsFan Posted June 22, 2005 Author Share Posted June 22, 2005 Originally posted by Spaceman Spiff That sucks man. I had a friend I lost touch with after high school, we were best friends all the way back to 1st grade. I want to get back in touch with him but I don't know how, it's awkward making that first step or phonecall. Perhaps I should... Absolutely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-Dog Night Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 This is the outcome that no one thinks about when they party. "Hey, I don't want to live to eighty anyway"...except when you turn 40, you want to make it to 45...then 50...and so on. And you don't want to be beset with health problems throughout your last years - what fun is life if you are sick all the time and you feel miserable every day? You’ll just hate your life and you’ll make everyone around you miserable. People tend to focus on that one guy who drinks hard and lives a long life and say "Hey look at him. He’s and old man and he’s drank all his life." But people like that are very much the exception. Most people who drink too much have a short life and a painful descent before they die. Not to be a Debbie Downer here -- this is just a fact. SkinsNatsFan, I know exactly how you feel. Thanks for posting this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsNatsFan Posted June 22, 2005 Author Share Posted June 22, 2005 Originally posted by E-Dog Night This is the outcome that no one thinks about when they party. "Hey, I don't want to live to eighty anyway"...except when you turn 40, you want to make it to 45...then 50...and so on. And you don't want to be beset with health problems throughout your last years - what fun is life if you are sick all the time and you feel miserable every day? You’ll just hate your life and you’ll make everyone around you miserable. People tend to focus on that one guy who drinks hard and lives a long life and say "Hey look at him. He’s and old man and he’s drank all his life." But people like that are very much the exception. Most people who drink too much have a short life and a painful descent before they die. Not to be a Debbie Downer here -- this is just a fact. SkinsNatsFan, I know exactly how you feel. Thanks for posting this. You bet. At some point you've just got to realize it's time to slow down or stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-Dog Night Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Unfortunately, a lot of people realize it, and they try to do something about it. But after years of hard drinking the brain becomes hard-wired to associate alcohol with pleasure, stress relief, escape from problems...even if the alcohol has stopped working for those such instances. This is why alcoholism is classified as a disease. It permanantely impairs the normal state of brain function. Little wonder, considering that alcohol is, in a very technical and literal sense, poison. It is quite the sad irony that the ingestion of poison is something that millions of people will spend billions of dollars to do, thinking that it makes their life more enjoyable. There are countless numbers of people who are not happy with their lives, and they think alcohol is the one thing that makes it better. When in reality, the main reason they are unhappy is that they drink too much alcohol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinsfan44 Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 Sorry to hear about your loss. My best friend John (he was also my best man at my wedding)died the same way 2 years ago at 42 years of age. I had known him since jr high school. Same thing happened. We all use to drink alot when we were in our late teens to mid 20's, but we all slowed way down in our drinking, but not John. He continued drinking hard all his life, and got soroses (sp) of the liver. No matter what we said to him about his drinking too much, he would just keep drinking. He was like a brother to me. Man, I miss him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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