I first met David Freeman Smith through my blog after he replied to one of my posts. We first started conversing through email before swapping phone numbers.From then on we were talking most days,running ideas off one another for the blog. Dribbling shit as mates do. Both having been through illness we knew what to say and what not to in order to escape our shackles. Living outside the box. Each day above ground as they say.
Dave had been fighting bowel cancer for a long time before it traveled to his lungs. He called me in late January to inform me that it had traveled further to his brain with two large tumors forming. His prognosis wasn’t good.
Dave lived another 18 months longer than expected. In order to spend time with his family. I received word today from his wife that he had passed away on the 5th of March. We had never met in person, however Dave was a good friend to me and shall be missed dearly and contributed more to this blog than many will ever understand.
I didn’t have the heart to change the above eulogy. I had sent this to Dave the week he told me the news of the 45mm and 25mm tumors. We were both sick c&nts and both with an unusual sense of humour. I wanted him to know what he friendship had meant to me and that I would miss our conversations.. I wanted him to know I had faith in him fighting it and that two months were bull shit.
Most of the posts over the last year were directed to David. The traveling sections, the pearls of wisdom, sections on living in the moment. I had been sending Dave pictures of sunsets, probably after the second week our conversations started. Saying to spend more time doing the little things and not worry about the big ones. Enjoy life! Time was too precious and I knew he didn’t have time left ,but not how little.
There’s no better way of learning to live in the present or in the moment than watching sunsets. They are like a slow moving fire works display. Every moment changing, the colors intensifying. You never want to take your eyes away in case the whole kaleidoscope changes. Every moment different.
Ive never liked talking about myself and it took a long time before I told my friends about what exactly I had been through. I only started writing more about those experiences for Dave. It had been easier to write about them than to talk out loud about the pain. I wanted him to know he wasn’t alone and that fighting could be a purpose and a way of reminding you ,that you are still alive.
The influence of his friendship has made the blog what it is today. I would never have spoken about many of the subjects before his presence in my life.
