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So my best friend from my teenage years just died - he'd had a tumor for the last few years but had been receiving Chemo and was in good spirits and positive that he'd recover up until around 4-5 months ago when it returned and the treatment stopped helping.
Tom was an amazing guy - he was a nerd before nerds were cool. We both grew up in a tiny village of 400 peoples, his family were hippies, his mom paints and his dad is a PE Teacher who does carpentry on the side. My father had PTSD issues so I spent a lot of time hanging out at theirs eating nettle soup politely and playing chess and D&D with Tom.
Tom was a certified genius, he got grades at A'Level which I didn't even realise existed (A* which is basically a 'near perfect') and he ended up going to Cambridge University where he took a combined Math/Physics degree ... after which he decided to become a pastor, a career he continued in up until he died last night.
He is the reason why I try and respect peoples belief in a higher being - its not something which comes easily to me, I've seen a lot of shit in my life but Tom was the most intelligent man I've ever met and incredibly compassionate ... as such I'm willing to entertain he was onto something because he was often a step ahead of me intellectually.
He'll be hugely missed, not just by me but by his family and the many people who his actions have rippled through during his life.
(end random diatribe - just needed to get that off my chest)
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