Doug, always missed

It’s the angel anniversary of one of my favorite people. He passed away on February 29th. Doug was unique like a leap year: tall, dark, not easily accessible, soft spoken, extra and extremely funny. It might be an overt chat or a covert look, but believe me, it was a side splitting moment of joy. I met him at work. We worked for an entertainment company that was a fledgling entity when we crossed paths. He was in a different department, but you couldn’t miss him. He was 6 feet 10 inches, although he would tell you he was shorter than that. Most people thought he was a basketball player, he was formidable player of life.

Doug always knew the rules because he wanted to know if they could be amended, shifted or broken. He had decided that knowledge was going to be his sword and he would make mental cuts while people were marveling at his height or disdain because of his color.. They were not prepared for the blood letting at the hands of that tall man.

I live in Upstate New York and he lived in New York City. Every time I intended to visit, by bus or train; I gave him a beep, call, email or text, so we could meet up and laugh over food and adult beverages. One weekend, he came upstate for a visit and we went shopping at The Outlets in Lake George. We went into various stores and it was annoying because I forgot that people would naturally be staring at him. We roamed through different stores and we ended up at a sneaker store. He commented that he remembered the last time he went shoe shopping was with his mom. He was young and it was one of the last…