I Lost My Best Friend This Week

My best friend of 10 years, and godfather to my children, passed away in a house fire. His death has been really difficult to come to terms with. We've been like brothers for the past 10 years. He was the one who got me into science and chemistry. We worked at the nuke plant together for several years. We consumed a lot of alcohol around bonfires over the years. I have a lot of good memories of him. My kids are devastated as he was the "cool uncle" so to speak. I haven't hurt this much since my father died. Hug your loved ones. Make every encounter worthwhile, as if it was your last, cause you never know when it will be the last. RIP Matt!
I have a childhood friend that's now the God father of my son he to is like a brother. The laughter and memories we share are like none other. We live 800 miles apart now sometimes don't speak for a few weeks at a time but when we do it's like a minute never lost. He's a good guy and glad we're friends pals and brothers at heart. Sorry for your loss. 🙏
 
Thank you, everyone. I've been inconsolable the past few days, just a hodge-podge of emotions from sadness to anger to despair. This is a different kind of hurt. I still haven't come to terms with it. My eyes hurt as I have no tears left to cry.

I've been in contact with his mother. We've been talking about memories and his legacy. I'll be driving up to North Carolina in a few weeks to have a BBQ at his house in his honor. He was a big fan of my smoked pork shoulder / pulled pork so I'll be smoking a couple shoulders there. Even though I'm not a fan of IPAs, he loved them, so I drank a couple of them last night in his honor.

I have a childhood friend that's now the God father of my son he to is like a brother. The laughter and memories we share are like none other. We live 800 miles apart now sometimes don't speak for a few weeks at a time but when we do it's like a minute never lost. He's a good guy and glad we're friends pals and brothers at heart. Sorry for your loss. 🙏

Cherish every moment you two have together. Make every conversation and get-together worthwhile. That's how Matt and I were.

He was a welding engineer and worked in Korea for 2 years as lead engineer on a major project. (at age 27-28) I used to wake up at 6am some mornings to call him at 7pm his time, after he got off work, just to talk. He never missed a single one of my kids birthday parties. He took the godfather role seriously, making sure he was a part of their lives. While he was in Korea, we figured he would miss a couple of them as it was difficult for him to leave and come home. He said he wouldn't be able to make it, even recording workplace sounds in the background when he called to wish my oldest happy birthday. Then he walked through the door 5 minutes later, surprising her and all of us. He gave her a bunch of Korean money, some unique toys that he found in Korea, etc... He was truly an amazing person.
 
Sorry to hear this. I lost my very closest friend a few years back in 2017. The grief was unreal and in many ways worse than losing a parent. The only thing that helped was to be thankful for all the good times we had, and to tell the best stories. Initially I really wanted to try and find another like him, but that was silly, he was quite different and amazingly capable. A 777/787 senior captain for American.

Make sure to be thankful for the time you had, and that you had as much time as you did.

EDIT: I've lost a large number of friends in recent years. In fact, all but one of my close friends is dead or "no longer there" (strokes). Most were health conscious people and the deaths were all unexpected. Joe died in a OV-1 Mohawk crash as he was out by pulling too many G's, Bob a motorcycle crash due to heart probs (he had been passing out), Phil and Cam massive strokes, Dan a Piper Aerostar crash, Barrett and Jack had heart attacks, and more. The one healthy guy remaining is no longer a close friend, as he turned hard core commie.

I've not really been able to make new close friends, but at this point, it does not matter all that much to me. At some point I made peace with it all and am thankful for what I do have!
 
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This is hitting even harder today. I was informed this morning that he put my children as the beneficiaries on his life insurance.
Not many people in the world have friends like that. Clearly you were as good a friend to him as he was to you. Some people live more in a short time then those with longer lives.

I'm so sorry!
 
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