It’s not often that i’m stopped for long on a Facebook post as I casually scroll through the family, food or fun pics of friends. However, this morning a post from a complete stranger stopped me and impacted me in a way I didin’t expect. The comment, “Rest in Peace, Uncle David,” with the inclusion of three pictures of my old friend put an immediate pall over me, a flood of memories, a sense of regret, but also a knowledge that I’ll see David Hughes again.

I met David in the Messick High School lunchroom. He was a stitch, a natural comic, who could, as an observer of life, quickly turn almost any situation into a joke. I was immediately drawn to him and wondered why he was drawn to me, but we became fast friends. We weren’t exclusive because we still had other friends with whom we would hang out, but we hardly missed lunch together, weekly Young Life meetings, Friday night football/basketball games, after-game gatherings with classmates at Danvers, or cruising.

I came to realize that maybe I was more of the sidekick who unwittingly helped David carry out his humor. One day we were walking down the hallway just after David stopped at the water fountain. As a classmate walked toward us David squirted through his teeth a sideways, stream of water, passing in front of me and hitting the boy as he was almost even with me. It was a direct hit to which David immediately pushed me and said, “Chuck! I can’t believe you would do that!”

Underclassman, Ken Bennett was often a part of our lunch bunch. After lunch, we would retreat to the stairway landing between the second and third floors. From there we could watch the seniors return from their off-campus lunch. One day the Jr. High band returned from marching practice, entering the door right below us. David took a quick drink from his water glass and spewed the water on the kids below. In a flash, the band director, Tom Swayzee, came running up the stairs, and shouted, “What was that?” David non-chanlantly replied, “Water.” Mr. Swayzee shouted back, “What kind of water?” Appearing non-plussed by the question, David quickly replied, “H2O water.” Mr. Swayzee huffed up the half flight of stairs to the band room, and we erupted into laughter.

I think because neither David, Ken nor I were fraternity affiliated, David named us “The Window Sill Gang” in keeping with our after-lunch hangout. Just as fraternities and sororities had a car horn honk as they passed members’ homes, we had one, too! David and I typically did the driving anytime we cruised or went to games. If we were in my dad’s ’67 Mustang, David would always call “shotgun,” taking the passenger seat. That left Ken to sit on the center hump in between the bucket seats. After leaving a game at Halle Stadium, we hit the red light at Mt Moriah and White Station. The intersection was crowded with game traffic and David bent over at the waist to make it appear that Ken and I were more than just “friends.” Of course, Ken was then doing his best to lift David back to an upright position.

When the 1973 Messick High Yearbooks came out, I noted to David a picture in which it appeared his hand was between the legs of cheerleader, Penny Heck. Even her expression gave some sense that David was up to one of his spontaneous antics. However, closer inspection revealed that they were Penny’s hands. However, David said that he drew stripes on Penny’s sleeve to match his own, further accentuating the optical illusion. Only Penny can verify that story.

We remained friends in college at Memphis State University. During that time we both worked at a grocery store, with David recommending me to the manager. We also served in the Young Life ministry and would hang out in the upstairs office on Southern Avenue, overlooking the Southern Railway tracks that separated the main campus from student parking and the Rec facility. Because there was no pedestrian bridge or tunnel, walking across the rails was the only way to get to your car or recreation class. From our picture window, we would often watch with amusement as students began running, hoping to beat the train as the locomotive blew its horn at the nearest crossing. We would take bets on who wouldn’t make it across the tracks in time.

David had a life-altering diving accident in which he was shallow diving from the beach and hit the bottom of the lake with his head, breaking his neck. After months in the hospital and rehabilitation unit, amazingly David was able to walk again. While he lacked some feeling due to the injury, the casual observer might notice something unusual about his gait. However, one would not have known of the paralysis that he originally experienced.

We both got married. I finished college and took a job with the Tennessee Department of Human Services. The last time I saw David, he was working for his father-in-law (as I recall), spray-painting the bridges that were a part of the newly completed I-40 northern perimeter. I pulled over, we had a quick chat, agreed we needed to get together and then we both got back to work. That next January, I was pursuing my ministry call at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. We never talked again.

Over the years, these stories and others have been passed down to my kids and friends. I tried to find him on the internet and eventually, a former classmate gave me his phone number. I called but didn’t reach him. Then I found out he was on Facebook and he accepted my friend request, but there was never any dialogue.

And so…today I grieve the loss of a friend with whom I had so many significant high school and college experiences. And although we lost touch, I remain touched in what was a relatively short-term relationship…seven years. Because of our common faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I am grateful that our hope in Christ allows me to face this loss and others with the hope that I’ll see David again and comfort.

¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. ¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. ¹⁵ For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore comfort one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NASB)

Thanks for the laughs and the demonstration of faith and perseverance in suffering. See you later, David!