A Million Miles Away

To spend your time on this earth connecting people across the world and using your skills to improve people’s lives is a legacy that any of us would be happy to leave behind.

A year ago, a friend of mine passed away. He was one of the first people I connected with on social media, and we forged a bond over our mutual love of LeBron James, the Chicago Bears, and all things workplace.

My friend Chris had a big heart, he was passionate about changing the world, and he did just that through his business Resume Crusade and blog Performance I Create. He was someone I learned from, laughed with, and he was always up hashing out the latest Game of Thrones plot twist.

Sometimes we went weeks without talking and then a quick text or phone call, and we quickly caught up on each other’s lives. The longest we went without talking was a little longer than a month, and I’ll never forget the voicemail Chris left me to the tune of Adele’s Hello.

I can’t listen to that song without choking up. It’s a sad song, to begin with, but now I can’t help but hear my friend acting like a fool and belting out the lyrics to that song on my voicemail:

“Hello, Can you hear me?

It’s so typical of me to talk about myself, I’m sorry

I hope that you’re well

Did you ever make it out of that town where nothing ever happened?”

A year after his passing, I still miss him very much. Chris pushed me to stand up for myself and to be confident in my abilities. Through Performance I Create (web archive), he encouraged writers to share their experiences by providing a platform where we could share our perspectives.

A year later. A year of unprecedented events has swirled past me, and I still think about my wonderful friend and the legacy he left behind. Sometimes I think how unfair it is that terrible people exist on this earth, but Chris is no longer here. And other times, I think how lucky I was to know him and count him as a friend for even a short period of time.

To spend your time on this earth connecting people across the world and using your skills to improve people’s lives is a legacy that any of us would be happy to leave behind. It’s the legacy Chris leaves behind, and its impact is still felt.

Hello from the other side, my friend. There are more than a million miles between us now, but you are not forgotten.