This week gets more and more surreal.
I just found out, through my mother, that an old friend of mine passed away. Chris Gulfman. Apparently news travels slow across the plains because it has been almost a year. Regardless, for me, it just happened.
Chris and I grew up down the block from each other and throughout grade school he was one of my closest friends. We were on the same soccer team, took art classes together etc. We both took speech lessons as well. Chris grew up with a horrible stutter and I...well I still talk all fucked up. Our younger sisters were good friends, our mothers were good friends.
Oddly enough, I was just speaking about him the other day. I was telling someone over lunch about my childhood friend that for almost a year straight ate nothing but a hotdog (no bun) and mashed potatoes. But not just mashed potatoes. It had to be piled in the shape of a volcano, the hole had to be filled with baked beans, and there had to be ketchup streaming down the sides simulating lava. Its been 30 something years but I still remember that.
Chris and I grew apart in high school. Always said "hi" in the halls, had a few classes together, but we just ended up in different social circles. There was never a fight our a falling out so there was always a subtext to our "hellos" - a friendly acknowledgement that we were friends from way, way back. Ironically, we both ended up working in the same field, which I guess shouldn't be that surprising since we grew up with so much in common.
From what I can gleam from the articles I found on the web, he had an embolism or something. Went to bed and never woke up. Shit like that scares the shit out of me. That could have been any one of us. His mom, Judy, could just have easily called HIM this morning and said she just found out Adam Freeman passed away a few months back.
Kind of gives you a little reality check, I guess.
If friends or family stumble across this post, please know my thoughts are with you. You don't need to hear this from me, because you know already, but Chris was a good guy. Weird fucking taste in food, but a good guy.
2 comments:
hey adam, this is meredith, chris' sister. i google his name sometimes and look who i found!!! he actually had a tumor in his brain. it caused a blood clot, and on may 19th at about 3am it burst, he slipped into a coma and never woke up. it was huge and the worst kind, the neuro surgeon said he would have died within 8 months if we had found it. i know you guys were close in the younger years. i tried to get in touch with as many as i could, but i knew he did not have your number. if by chance you have anyone else's number or email from then, please pass on the info. tell your sister i remember doing gymnastics on my front lawn!! i will tell my mom i wrote to you. take care, meredith
Adam,
I don't know if you still check your comments on this site, but I am trying to reach you. We are planning a benefit concert for what would have been Chris Gulfman's 40th birthday (June 17th). Meredith wants to send invites to all of Chris' friends. You can email me at info@hoperockscarolina.com or just contact Meredith if you know how to do that.
We would love to have as many of Chris' old friends as possible there...to celebrate his life in a big way.
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