This past week, I’ve had trouble thinking of something light and funny to blog about. Sometimes life is just not that light, and not particularly funny either. A little over a week ago, a friend from high school passed away. He was one of my first major unrequited crushes, and one of the strangest, most memorable and most creative people I’ve ever met. Jude Lewis introduced me to techno music, dazzled me with his unabashedly crazy dance moves, and entertained me into the wee hours during meandering chats on AIM as “Ahadikeen.”

Equally dazzling were Jude’s close-knit crew of friends in high school. I was only at Carlisle for two years, but I was drawn to the kids in his inner-circle, a little intimidated by them, and happy to be included at times – shy, and mayhaps boring as I must have seemed. Mel the enigmatic, Tricia the sweet, Moira the artistic, Adam the aloof, Neil the sarcastic, and so on and so on. If this is sounding like a modern-day remake of the Breakfast Club, that’s probably no accident. They seemed to already know who they were in life, with such conviction. Of course, looks can be deceiving, especially from young eyes, and little did we know we had so much life ahead of ourselves to navigate, and to try to stay abreast of.

I have more fun memories of Jude from Dickinson and the college years. I remember swinging in a small playground near the old high school one night and talking about the future. I remember meeting the beautiful Suzie and thinking this guy was so lucky. And he was. But.

But other people’s lives are more complex than you can imagine. That’s the simple answer.

I’m very sad that Jude is gone. I’m especially sad for his parents, his brother, and all his friends. I wish I’d kept in better touch in the later years, as I think we all do. The last time we chatted was in January, and he mentioned he was working on a book. More of a creative concept really. I wish he’d had a chance to finish it. I wish I understood exactly what it was 🙂 But then it wouldn’t really be Jude, would it?

In any case, I’m comforted by the sentiment shared at his memorial yesterday, that no one is really dead while their name is still spoken. Cheers, Jude. It was a pleasure knowing you.