Wednesday, August 27, 2008
by
Cindy Droog
I haven't quoted any singers lately on this blog, so I thought I'd title my post after an 80's tune by Night Ranger that I still sometimes belt out while driving. (Yes, I am cheesy, but I accepted that fact long, long ago!)
This Saturday, I say good-bye to a dear friend. I'm returning to my alma mater, Ohio University, to spread the ashes of Christopher Bobo, a very close friend of mine who died in February.
When it comes to kids, health, and life in general, I believe with all of my heart and soul that strong friendships keep us grounded, smiling, less stressed, and therefore, more healthy. I hope that both of my boys are lucky enough in their lifetimes to have have a friend like I had in Chris. This post is dedicated to him.
I met Chris 16 years ago. He was simply walking down the street, and my roommate and I were carrying a giant rug from a store to our dorm room. She was 6’ tall. I was 4’10.” Since we were both journalism majors – “word people” if you will – I don’t think we even considered that carrying this rug home downhill was an engineering impossibility.
Many onlookers glanced at our moving Leaning Tower of Pisa, but moved on. Finally, one stranger stopped to help. That was Chris. During the half-mile journey back to our dorm, we became fast friends. More like family, in fact.
I look at my boys, and I know that Chris had many qualities I hope to instill in them. He was nonjudgmental. He didn’t care that I had to work at the student cafeteria to make ends meet. Instead, he bet me $20 that I wouldn’t wear my hairnet to class, and when I did, he paid up. (I didn't weigh enough to give plasma, so I had to make money somehow!)
He was kind and loved helping others. I would have failed geology if not for him. He was hilarious. At one makeshift Thanksgiving dinner, as we all sat around the table in his apartment and said what we were thankful for, his reply was “miniskirts.”
Earlier this year, Chris lost the greatest battle of his life, his ongoing struggle with depression. Chris took his own life, and with it, a huge part of me and our small, close-knit group of college friends.
So this Saturday, just say a little prayer for me. It's going to be one of the hardest days of my life.
Still, I will always have Chris to judge my own sons' friends by. I will remind them to look for friends just like Chris: Nonjudgmental. Kind. Helpful. Hilarious. If they find just one friend like that, it will be worth any sorrow they may go through if and when they lose that friend.