I can't believe I'm going to share this here...but I'm going to take a chance and trust that this will remain respectful and mature.
Please don't disappoint me.
I lost a very dear friend roughly 10 years ago to suicide. We met through a mutual acquaintence in high school, and the 3 of us wound up forming a garage band shortly thereafter. I played lead guitar, and Todd (deceased) would switch off with Mitch (our mutual friend) between rythm guitar and drums, depending on who knew what parts and could play them better lol.
Funny thing...I'd only been playing guitar a few years at the time, and Todd absolutely idolized me...never stopped complimenting me on my playing abilities. Within 2 years he proved to be a mind-boggling guitar virtuoso. I considered myself to be a *decent* guitarist, and I was embarrased to play around him...he was that good!
Years later he wound up in Florida in a band with some other classmates of ours, and was on the verge of making it big. He'd managed to catch the attention of some pretty powerful people in the music industry at the time, and they were trying to help him meet the right people.
Then, for no apparent reason, he stopped returning my phone calls. I didn't hear from him for quite some time. I found out through another mutual friend that he'd taken an overdose of Darvocet one night shortly after I'd talked to him last.
Todd was a very mixed-up individual, but had a heart of pure gold. It absolutely devastated me to learn of his passing. Had he simply confided in me that something was wrong, I'd have done anything in my power to help him out. He never told me.
I'll never forget our last conversation either. He said "E., out of all the friends I've ever had, you're the only one who's never shit on me, and the only one I feel truly believed in me."
From one extreme to another. I'll never be able to make sense of it.
There is one very bizzarre twist to this story though. Through a completely unforseeable series of events that started around Todd's passing, I wound up making my peace with Christ.
Proof that God can achieve something amazing though something so tragic.
This is something deeply personal to me, and I'm taking a HUGE risk posting that here. Please, don't start in with the Christ-bashing. If you don't believe, please, at least try to have a little respect for someone who does.