In memoriam: Nick – gone but not forgotten
I had this client, Nick, who I grew very fond of over the years. We had a great meeting of the mind. One day, three years ago, I received a call that Nick had taken his life. It hit me like a dull ache in my soul.
Later, I received notice a memoriam had been set up in his name with St Ignatius Loyola Academy in Baltimore, which is where Nick’s brother worked for at time. They have a program where they help inner city young boys prepare for college.
The day I was writing out the check to send in a donation, I happened upon an entry in my notebook from six months prior – I record all my phone calls – the top of the page said Nick, and then I had written in large lettering – SUNSHINE! That is what Nick was in my workaday life – a real bright spot. I told St. Ignatius in my letter about the notebook entry and Nick’s father called me up and we became friends.
I was sending in my donation this year and thinking about Nick – how great a guy he was, and how the world has a hole in it since he left. I was thinking about Jim, his father, who I haven’t called since Katrina because I’ve been so involved in my own drama. And I was thinking about those boys, who are lucky enough to participate in this program, especially in light of having finished The Blind Side where there seems to be this black hole and I mean that pun intentionally, where a lot of bright boys seem to be waiting for only a chance.