A dedication to a new friend

Somewhat of a harder post to write. When we set off on our adventure we knew things wouldn't always be easy and we may run into harder times like delayed or canceled flights, lost items, the sadness of saying goodbye to new friends. But we never considered facing or dealing with death.

I knew Alex for six weeks.

He walked into the staff cafeteria with a smile on his face and confidently sat at our table and introduced himself.

After ten minutes anyone would think we had been friends for months or years not minutes. Alex instantly made friends with anyone.

On Easter Sunday, half way through serving brunch, a friend told me he had passed away.

While travelling you don’t really expect to deal with ‘real life’ issues like grief and loss. But everywhere you go, life goes on, and the longer you spend with people and the longer you stay in one place, the more you become attached. And I have found having a sense of place and belonging is not that hard to do.

We have made such close connections with people in such a short time that their loss from our worlds, whether from simply moving away or more, comes as more of a shock than expected.

What we didn't know was that our friend Alex had a demon. A demon that also took the lives of almost 300 people in Alberta last year.

In 2015 more than 270 Albertans died from fentanyl overdoses. (Calgary Herald)

More startling is that more Calgarians lost their lives to fentanyl overdoses last year than to homicide and fatal traffic collisions combined. (Calgary Sun)

At his funeral his step father described his anger at himself but also to the health system, that failed to provide sufficient care when Alex asked for help.

He said that he and Alex's mother had "always feared the knock on the door". And his denial when it did come.

His words and utter helplessness towards the end of Alex's life will stay with me forever.

We spent some time with Alex when we drove to Calgary about four weeks before he died, we chatted life, family, friends and even politics.

I found him to be an intelligent and thoughtful person.

I worked tea time most days close to the front desk where I would pass the time sharing jokes with him. He made me laugh. He cracked me up when he told me he would sneak into the kitchen at 3am for ice cream. I would joke with him in the mornings about which new flavour he had tried the night before.

He never complained and I found his positive attitude uplifting.

It’s so surprising the impact someone can have on your life in six weeks.

I and so many more of his colleagues are mourning the loss of someone who we feel oddly close to despite our short time together.

His absence will forever leave a hole in my heart, a memory to respect people from all walks of life, to appreciate life, to acknowledge the wrong-doings in the world and try to make it a better place through our interactions.

#blog #travel #loss