I’m awake at 1:30 in the morning thinking of a good friend who passed away yesterday. Doug Quintenz and I met online on blogDecatur and here, where we soon discovered we had a lot in common – living in the same neighborhood, being Nazarenes, loving and spoiling our dogs too much and wanting to do something good for our neighborhood and community. The neighborhood group we formed has been idle for awhile but it did accomplish what it was set out to do, at least for me – create friendships with neighbors I would have otherwise never met or gotten to know so well, including Doug and his wife Christy.

My husband and I enjoyed listening to Christy sing with her band The STILL, (and we still will), whenever we got the chance and Doug was always there. He was her number one fan in every way. He had a wonderful marriage, great kids and grandchildren. He was great with kids – a gentle giant. He wasn’t too fond of the Winter months, especially snow which I often teased him about. He ribbed me often too, like a big brother, most recently my lamenting of the big maple tree I had to have cut down in preparation for our house addition. “Timber!” was his reply to my weeping. I had to laugh. His joking made me feel better about it. He had a great sense of humor and though we sometimes didn’t see politically eye-to-eye on everything, after the debate, we were still friends. That’s rare these days, where too many people are so quick to write-off anyone who disagrees with them on any one political subject. I enjoyed our discussions and valued his point of view, whether we agreed or disagreed. Most of all, I enjoyed his gentle nature, friendship and ability to make me and so many others laugh.

News of his illness came as a shock and how soon he was taken away an even greater one. I’m thankful for having had the privilege to have known him. I’m going to miss his friendship very much and plant a maple tree in the backyard in his memory.