Drew
I'd met Drew years ago, at a pool hall in Langhorne called The Rack Room. Years later, it's where I met him for the last time. The Rack Room was, by that time, closed, and we met up there to grab a bite and catch up at the Denny's which was out front. Back in the day, I'd met Drew through Dave Tyson, who also used to hang out at the pool hall with Drew and another friend, Jay Winslow.
Dave, Drew, and Jay were almost always together. They were a few years younger than me. The Rack Room was kind of like Cheers: maybe not everyone knew your name, but enough people to make you feel at home I guess. It sounds corny. Regardless, I spent a lot of time there with those three guys and their circle of friends who I got to know to various degrees. Dave was like a brother to me, and looked up to me, but I'll never understand why. Jay is someone I could always make laugh easily. And Drew was thoughtful.
I have fond memories of hanging out with them, during that period of my life between the end of high school and the start of my career. I remember playing Hacky Sack with some of the guys, and probably another friend, Don Long, one muggy summer night (2am-ish -- technically summer morning) shortly before my career began. I remember going to a rave with them (not really my thing). I remember game mastering a session of Star Wars: The Role Playing Game with them and Don at Drew's house one Sunday afternoon (the guys did great, I did terrible -- apparently game mastering isn't my thing either). And I remember going to a few parties with them. One on occasion, the whole gang was going to meet up at someone's apartment, and Drew was going to ride with me and give me directions. I pulled up to the entrance of The Rack Room to pick up Drew, and jokingly quoted Luke and Lando from Return of the Jedi, saying "Let's go. And don't forget the droids." (and in Billy Dee Williams voice) "We're on our way!", which Drew that was hysterical.
We ended up getting lost.
After my career began, my time at The Rack Room decreased a bit. Eventually, I got married, and life went on. I lost touch with everyone. I last saw Dave at Toys R Us one Christmas season, shopping for gifts for his son. I last saw Jay in the parking lot of Target, sometime within a few months or maybe years of last seeing Dave. But Drew...I'd lost contact with him altogether.
Enter Bill Wood. Bill was one of that circle of friends I mentioned earlier, and somehow, I'd always run into Bill. He'd cross my mind, and I'd run into him within days. It was one day at the mall when I ran into him while there with my family. He gave me the news that both Dave and Jay had passed away. But what of Drew? Bill let me know that Drew had moved to Florida and was working as a chef. I felt relieved that one of them had not only survived, but was doing well.
Eventually, I reconnected with Drew on Facebook. And years later, after he moved back to Pennsylvania, I met up with him outside The Rack Room for that catch-up session at Denny's. I had no idea it would be the last time I'd ever see him.
We kept in sporadic touch, and when I decided to deactivate my Facebook account, I posted a message letting everyone know, and he sent me a message in time for me to see it. I explained why and he told me he understood.
I got a text message from him the following year, asking how I was and saying he'd love to chat. I replied the next day, telling him that his timing was funny and that I'd been meaning to text him that past two weeks. I asked how he was, but never got a response. That was in March of 2018. That Christmas, I texted him again to wish him a Merry Christmas, and received a text response which read "unable to receive message - Message Blocking is active."
Had I done something wrong? He remembered that I'd left Facebook, right? I hadn't blocked him or anything.
Over the years I thought many times of trying again, of sending him a text, of reaching out. I never did. About a month ago, he crossed my mind and I Googled his name, and the first result was his obituary. He'd never received my last text. He was already gone when I'd sent it.
Of my friend, the thing I most want to say about him is that he was thoughtful. He cared. Even though I have a lot of good memories of Drew, my favorite one would be of dropping him off at his house one night when I was going through a bit of a rough spot. He got out of the car and walked towards his house, then stopped, turned around, and walked back to the driver's side window and asked "Hey. Are you going to be okay?". That was Drew. Before turning in for the night, he just wanted to be sure I'd be alright. And that's my fondest memory of him.
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